Article - Living By the Spirit pt 1

Living By The Spirit pt 1

In our series “Strive for Perfection” we discovered that we don’t become perfect by our own efforts, but by allowing God to cleanse us and shape us. This is summed up in Galatians 5:16, which says: “So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.”

That’s why confession is so important, it restores the relationship by which we are being saved.

But how do we live by the Spirit? Many Christians are hazy on what that’s all about. We so often see our Christian live as a set of behaviours instead of as a personal relationship with God. But being a Christian is not living by Christ’s rules, it’s following Christ Himself. We can’t do that ourselves, but God in His incredible grace has chosen to live inside each of His people in order to change us from the inside out. We can only understand the things of God because God helps us to. We can only do the things of God because He helps us to. We are nothing without Him. We are helpless and depraved.

That might sound like a bit of a guilt trip or an unnecessarily harsh view of human nature. I’m not forgetting the fact that we are also wonderfully made and every human being is of infinite worth. I love to see good things in people and I’m often amazed by what I see in others – whether they know God or not.

But none of us can escape the corruption of our own sinful nature. We are at the same time wonderful and woeful! Recognising our own inability to be like Jesus is the first step to freedom. We need to live by the Spirit. We’ll talk about how we do that in coming weeks.

Leadership in the Church pt 1 - The role of Elders and Deacons

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This sermon provides a brief overview of the emergence of the roles of Elder and Deacon in the early church as an ongoing pattern for church leadership today. This provides a basis for a more detailed examination in future messages of those roles and the qualifications required of those who are given the responsibility of carrying them out.

Manuscript

The classic text when it comes to understanding the roles of Deacons is found in the book of Acts 6:1-7…

In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Grecian Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. ^2 So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, “It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. ^3 Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them ^4 and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.”

^5 This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; also Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism. ^6 They presented these men to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.

^7 So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith. ^[1]

The interesting thing about this text is that it does not mention Elders or Deacons! It mentions 12 men who had the responsibility pray and teach and 7 men who were given responsibility to overlook the daily distribution of food to widows who were in need.

This passage is important because it describes for us the way that the first leaders of the church – the 12 Apostles – delegated some of the tasks of ministry so that they were able to focus on the task that they had been entrusted with – prayer and the ministry of the Word.

As God continued to grow the Church under the guidance of the Apostles these ministries became better defined as the roles of Elders and Deacons.

By Acts 11 we read of Elders in the Church at Jerusalem. In Acts 15 we read that important decisions were made by a council of Elders together with the surviving Apostles. As they discussed what was a very controversial topic at the time, the two prominent people mentioned were the Apostle Peter and James the brother of Jesus, who is never given the title Apostle, but rose to a position of leadership because of his obvious spiritual qualifications.

In Acts 14:23 we read that as they returned from their first missionary journey, “Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church and, with prayer and fasting, committed them to the Lord, in whom they had put their trust.”

In Acts 20:17-38 we get a great picture of this process of the Lord’s Apostles handing over responsibility for spiritual leadership to Elders – men who had not been appointed by Jesus personally as the Apostles had, but rather men who had been appointed to leadership because of their maturity, holiness and firm grasp of right doctrine.

^17 From Miletus, Paul sent to Ephesus for the elders of the church. ^18 When they arrived, he said to them: “You know how I lived the whole time I was with you, from the first day I came into the province of Asia. ^19 I served the Lord with great humility and with tears, although I was severely tested by the plots of the Jews. ^20 You know that I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you but have taught you publicly and from house to house. ^21 I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus.

^22 “And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. ^23 I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. ^24 However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace.

^25 “Now I know that none of you among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom will ever see me again. ^26 Therefore, I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of all men. ^27 For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God.

^28 Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. ^29 I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. ^30 Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. ^31 So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.

^32 “Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. ^33 I have not coveted anyone’s silver or gold or clothing. ^34 You yourselves know that these hands of mine have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions. ^35 In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

^36 When he had said this, he knelt down with all of them and prayed. ^37 They all wept as they embraced him and kissed him. ^38 What grieved them most was his statement that they would never see his face again. Then they accompanied him to the ship.

This passage teaches us a lot about the ministry of Elders, which we won’t explore in detail today. I want to just pull out some of the big ideas though. You can see in this passage that Eldership:

· Continues the ministry of the Apostles in the teaching and governing of the Church. (Interestingly, the Apostle Peter calls himself a “fellow elder” when writing to Elders in 1 Peter 5:1. The Apostle John simply calls himself “the Elder” in the letters of 2^nd and 3^rd John).

· Follows the example and teaching of the Apostles ministry (v. 18-26)

· Involves watching over their own lives first and the lives of those who God has entrusted to their care (v. 28)

· Involves guarding the church from error and attack (vv. 29-31)

· Is hard work! (v. 35)

So getting back to Acts chapter 6, let’s apply the pattern of what happened in that situation and apply it to our own context.

As the church in Jerusalem was governed and cared for by Apostles at that stage, we are governed and cared for by Elders. They have oversight of the church. However just as the Apostles were unable to personally supervise every area of ministry within the church in Jerusalem, our Elders are unable to personally supervise every area of ministry in our church. As we know, not only would it distract them from fulfilling their primary duties, but it would actually stunt the growth of the church as others are not entrusted with ministries for which they are gifted and qualified.

So in this particular situation, which was to do with financial administration and distribution of food, the Apostles invited the church to bring forward 7 trustworthy men, who the Apostles then commissioned for that task, giving them the authority to carry it out. Notice that the Apostles specified for the church to choose men “Full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom”. In other words men of demonstrated spiritual maturity and the discernment necessary to make good decisions in carrying out their role.

Over time the word “Deacon” was applied to people serving in these recognised capacities within the church. Deacon simply means “Servant”. Of course we are all servants of Christ and of His Church. We are all to serve one another in love, and we have all been shaped by God in order to do good works which will build up the Church.

So the word deacon is applied in Scripture both as a verb – an action word describing what people do; and a noun – a title given to people who have been recognised as having a particular role in serving the Body.

It’s important to recognise that the Apostles apply the word “deacon” to themselves also in this passage. In verse 2 they say it would not be right for them to neglect the Word in order to serve tables – that’s not their area of service. In verse 6 they describe their area as prayer and to serve, or minister, the Word.

Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 12:5

^“There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord.”

Paul calls himself a servant (deacon) of the gospel in Ephesians 3:7, and there are many other references that we could look up where this word is being used.

So what does this actually teach us about the role of Deacons in the church?

Simply this, that we all have different areas of service, and that it is important for our leaders to be able to delegate responsibility to other believers who demonstrate suitable Christian character and suitability for the tasks which they will be given responsibility for.

In our church, we have a Deacons Board which serves the church by looking after administrative matters which are mostly to do with finances and property. Other people serve as deacons – but without the title – in areas such as overseeing children’s ministry, youth ministry, music ministry, ladies ministry, missions and so on. These must all be people full of the Spirit and wisdom, appropriate to their specific roles. We would not want a spiritually immature or unwise person serving in any of these positions, which is why we have a formal process of appointing people to those roles. I wonder if it would help us to understand the spiritual significance of these roles if we were to hold a commissioning service in a similar way to that which we see in Acts 6 where people appointed to these roles are consecrated for ministry by prayer and the laying on of hands by the Elders.

Other churches have different ways of organising the ministry of Deacons. For example in some churches the Deacons Board consists of people who are in charge of different ministry areas in the church who do not often meet together. They may have a finance team, property team, children’s ministry team, worship team and so on, and the leaders of these teams meet together every so often to talk about resourcing and other issues that they have in common.

However it is that we organise our Deacons – the main thing to keep in mind is that being a deacon means being a servant. It is not a title to pursue. It is not an office by which you get to have a say in what goes on. It is being entrusted by the congregation to serve faithfully in a particular area.

Likewise, being an Elder is also being a servant, but where deacons can be appointed to serve in whatever areas the church has need, Elders have a very clearly defined role in Scripture, and must be careful to not let anything deter them from fulfilling that Scriptural mandate.

So to wrap up the different roles, we could summarise to say that Elders have governing authority in the church and are to watch over it as under-shepherds to Jesus Christ. Deacons are people who have been entrusted with a particular responsibility within the church and have been given the authority necessary to carry out that responsibility.

How should we appoint people to these roles of service?

It should be remembered that it is God who divinely appoints people for roles of service. Our task is to recognise people who God has gifted, matured and ordained for particular roles within His Body.

In Acts 14 we read that Elders were appointed by the Apostles Paul and Barnabas in every town where there had been a church established. It should be noted that the Greek word being used does not tell us specifically how they did it. They may have elected the elders by mutual consent between themselves, or they may have had the congregation elect the elders and then ordained them in a similar way the first deacons were ordained in Acts 6. Acts 14:23 tells us they did this with prayer and fasting, such was the seriousness of the responsibility entrusted to these elders to watch over the fledgling churches.

It’s worth noting that Paul & Barnabas appointed these Elders on their return trip, passing through churches that had already been planted and had an opportunity to grow under their own supervision. In such circumstances, men who held on to the true teaching of the Apostles and who showed transformed character would have had a chance to become easily identified.

The lists of qualifications for Elders and Deacons are found in the letters written to Titus and to Timothy. Paul wrote to these men to help them teach the churches they were responsible for how to identify suitable candidates for these ministries. It’s possible that Timothy and Titus simply appointed Elders and Deacons with the Apostolic authority that had been delegated to them by Paul in keeping with his instructions, but it’s equally possible that their task was more to supervise the process and make sure the churches knew what sort of people they should be appointing to the roles.

In our church, we invite members of the congregation to identify people suited for service as either an Elder or Deacon, and with that person’s consent to nominate them to serve in that capacity. The nomination then must be approved by the Elders, since Elders by virtue of their ministry may be aware of issues that may render a person unfit for a particular role. If the nomination is approved, it is brought before the church at a members meeting so that the whole congregation has an opportunity to express their confidence in the character and calling of the person. Deacons serving on our Church Board are elected for a 3 year term, while other positions of recognised service are renewed annually.

The role of Elder is not for a defined period, but for life unless an Elder disqualifies himself by his conduct or else chooses to resign the position for some other reason.

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^[1]All Scriptures from The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.

Article - Aim for Perfection pt 5

Aim for Perfection pt 5

1 John 1:9 promised that “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness”. How does God purify us from unrighteousness?

We already know that we have been purified legally – we are no longer guilty of our crimes against God – and we have been purified relationally – sin is no longer a barrier between God and us. The purification (cleansing) referred to in this verse is the final step in the process: effectual purification. This is the work that God does in getting sin out of our lives completely. It is the process of refinement that He is undertaking in every Christian in order to present us as a pure Bride (see Ephesians 5:25-27).

Remember we are purified legally once for all as believers in Jesus. We are purified relationally as soon as we confess our sin to God. We are purified effectually as we allow God through His Spirit to change us from the inside out.

In Psalm 51 we hear David’s confession to God for his sins of adultery and murder. It’s a great example of confession that I have personally found useful to use as my own prayer to God. In verse 10-13 he says: “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. Then I will teach transgressors your ways,

and sinners will turn back to you.”

We don’t become more holy by our own efforts, but by allowing God to make us holy. He is the One who creates a clean heart (desires & attitudes) within us through His indwelling Spirit. As Paul writes in Romans 7&8, our own efforts are never enough. It is the Spirit who frees us from condemnation and transforms us to be more like Jesus.

Confession of our sin restores our relationship with God and puts us in a position where He can cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Articles - Aim for Perfection 1 to 4!

Aim for Perfection pt 1

What standards do you set for yourself when it comes to how well you are living the Christian life? It is so easy to compare yourself to others, which is a very convenient comparison since we always judge others more harshly than we judge ourselves! Jesus tells us to “Be perfect, therefore, as your Heavenly Father is perfect” (Matt 5:48), and Paul prayed for the perfection of the saints (2 Cor 13:9). That set’s the bar pretty high doesn’t it!

Hebrews 10 reminds us that we have been made perfect in Christ, but we are also being made perfect in Christ. The first is what Jesus has done for us through His death and resurrection, the second is what is happens as we allow Him to work in us through His Spirit to help us receive what we have already been given. The two go together. If you have been made perfect (you have been saved by grace through faith), then you will show signs of being made perfect (growing in holiness and maturity). Hebrews 10 and other passages confront us with this truth – if there is no sign of being made perfect (a change in lifestyle that we can all see), then you have not been made perfect (a change in spiritual condition that only God sees).

This is not salvation by good works, it is salvation producing good works. Genuine salvation always produces transformation. The question is, how holy is holy enough? How many good works are enough? Is God being realistic when He commands us to aspire to perfection? We’ll explore that over the next few weeks!

Aim for Perfection pt 2

“…by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.” – Hebrews 10:14

As we looked at last week, in Jesus we have already been made perfect through His death on the cross to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. But we are also being made perfect as He continues His work of changing us so that we can live up to what we have already been given (Php 3:16).

The passage in Hebrews 10 continues…

^15 The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says:

^16 “This is the covenant I will make with them

after that time, says the Lord.

I will put my laws in their hearts,

and I will write them on their minds.”

^17 Then he adds:

“Their sins and lawless acts

I will remember no more.”

^18 And where these have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin.

Verse 16 is a quote from Jeremiah 31 which prophesies that a time would come when God would indwell His people through His Spirit, so their relationship with Him would not be based on their obedience to the Law, rather our obedience to the Law would be based on our relationship with God. We can’t keep God’s laws by ourselves, we can only do it as we live by His Spirit (Rom 1 – 8). If we are to live the lives that honour God, build up His people and witness to others we must learn to live by His Spirit – to hear His gentle voice instructing, correcting, convicting, comforting, encouraging and so on. Notice that God’s laws then become applied both in our hearts – the desire to please God; and our minds – the knowledge of how to please God. We need both.

You can check your own life to see how well you are living by the Holy Spirit by looking at the descriptions found in Galatians 5:16-26. Next week we’ll look at what we need to do when we discover that we are falling short of that standard.

Aim for Perfection pt 3

Last week we looked at the promise quoted in Hebrews 10:16 -

^15 The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says: ^16 “This is the covenant I will make with them

after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.”

God has done this through the Holy Spirit who lives inside all believers, convicting us of sin, instructing us in righteousness and replacing our sinful desires with godly motives. It is by receiving this ministry that we grow closer to perfection in Christ. But what happens when we fail to live by the Spirit and instead indulge our sinful natures? The passage continues:

^17 Then he adds: “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.”^18 And where these have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin.

It’s important to recognise first of all that our failings as Christians cannot separate us from God. God has forgiven us once and for all – Christ’s sacrifice was enough to cover our sins past, present and future and God as the righteous Judge has already chosen to forgive us. Our eternal salvation is secure. This is not a license to sin, as the Bible describes that the desire to live a righteous life is evidence of genuine faith – it is impossible to have proclaimed Jesus as Lord if there is not an accompanying attitude of obedience. The sins of a genuine believer do not affect the fact that we have “been” saved, but they do affect how we are “being” saved. More on that next week!

Aim for Perfection pt 4

We established last week that the sins of a genuine believer cannot separate them from God, but they do affect the work of God within us and through us. It is impossible for a true Christian to be content to harbour sin in their life, since it goes against the very nature of the One whom we call Father in Heaven, the One who is Saviour and Lord and the One who lives within. A classic text that deals with this is 1 John 1:5-10…

^5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. ^6 If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. ^7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

^8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. ^9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. ^10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.

When God through His Spirit convicts us of sin, our responsibility is to confess it – to own up to what God already knows. When we do that, God forgives us – not in the sense of restoring our salvation, we discovered last week that He doesn’t save then condemn us, it’s a once for all thing. He knows those who are His. This type of forgiveness is where the problem of sin in our relationship with God is dealt with and removed. Until we own up to it, it is a problem that creates a barrier in our relationship with God and produces evil effects in our lives. God must address it through discipline if we will not respond to the quiet voice of the Spirit or the ministry of the saints in bringing conviction.

However once we stop trying to hide our sin and bring it out into the open for God to deal with, He forgives us and purifies us. The victory that Jesus won over sin and death becomes applied to our lives – sin no longer has any control over us. More on this purifying work next week!

The Grace of God in Preaching

The Grace of God in Preaching

1 Corinthians 1:17-31

20/09/09

Introduction

The message that I want to share with you this morning is called “The Grace of God in Preaching”. I guess that sounds like I’m being a bit full of myself – “Hey guys, you are so blessed to be able to listen to me preach”! That’s a bit of a turn-off isn’t it?

I actually want to speak on this topic for a number of reasons:

1. Because I get such a personal blessing from listening, watching and even reading good preaching. I get preaching from CD’s and DVD’s and the internet, and I find it a huge blessing in my own spiritual life and in every other area of life as God’s Word is explained and applied over and over and over again. I want to share some of those blessings with you today as we look at how we can experience them more fully in our lives.

2. Because I am concerned that we are being conditioned by the way our society works, as well as our own natural tendencies, to reject the preaching of God’s Word. How many of you struggle to sit through a sermon? How many struggle to concentrate all the way through? How many struggle to tell someone else what the sermon was about 5 minutes after it finishes? Sometimes I get glimpses from people that they haven’t really taken in as much as they should have from what I have preached – maybe because of stuff I’m seeing in their lives or questions they ask that have already been answered in sermons or whatever – and it has made me question my own effectiveness as a preacher and even the effectiveness of preaching itself. “Is there any point to it?” I’ve asked myself.
Preaching has become much more about how you get people’s attention and keep their attention – more about savvy communication rather than sound content, more about entertainment than edification. When people today talk about good preaching versus bad preaching they’re usually talking about how engaging the preacher is not how well the preacher engages us with the Bible.
So there’s some things I’m worried about and I want to pass a warning on to you today about some of those things.

3. Finally I want to talk about this topic because the Bible does, and I want to teach what the Bible teaches. We’re going to explore just a sampling of what the Bible says on the topic of preaching today.

The first thing we need to get straight is what it is we’re talking about when we talk about preaching. Now preaching is simply public proclamation. You can preach on any subject you like from any perspective you like from any authority you like. So as we talk about the grace of God in preaching we need to be clear about what Christian preaching is:

1) Christian Preaching is Christ-Centred

To qualify as Christian preaching, it must be centred on the person and work of Jesus Christ. It doesn’t matter whether you’re dealing with a passage in the Old Testament or the New, Jesus Christ must be central to the message. It doesn’t matter what particular topic you might be talking about, Jesus must be central in Christian preaching. If you look up all the Biblical references to preaching since Christ was revealed on Earth, you will discover this principle stated time and time again.

In 1 Corinthians 9 Paul tells us that he felt compelled to preach the gospel – the message about Jesus. He said “Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!” (1 Cor 9:16). In Ephesians 3:7-9 he says:

^7 I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of his power. ^8 Although I am less than the least of all God’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, ^9 and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things.

Recognise from this passage that the preacher is never the point. The preacher is a servant of the gospel he preaches. The calling to preach is a measure of grace – preachers are not spiritual high-flyers who are therefore qualified to lecture others on how it is done! Paul describes himself as “less than the least of all God’s people”. He showed the humility which is needed in a preacher, because otherwise we make it about us and what we have to say and what we think people should believe and what they should do, and we miss the grace and power of God.

I don’t ever want to fall into the trap of trying to tell you what you should think and how you should live. My job is to receive from God – by His power and grace – the truth as it is revealed in the gospel, and to publicly proclaim it. To make plain to everyone the administration – the outworking - of the mystery of eternal life through Jesus Christ.

Let’s turn to our key text today:

1 Corinthians 1:17-31

^17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

You might remember that one of the problems the Corinthian church had was people looking at the preacher instead of his message. You had people there who described themselves as followers of preachers: “I follow Paul”, “I follow Apollos”, “I follow Peter” or “I follow Christ”, as though these were all rival philosophers or preachers. “Paul’s too hard to understand” some might say “Peter’s a lot more down to earth”; or “Apollos – now there’s a guy who can debate. He could put anyone in their place”; or “I think Jesus pushed it a bit far with that whole sermon on the mount we’ve heard about. I’m not sure he was being that realistic.”

There is a real temptation in Christian preaching to try and be impressive. To sound intelligent and to present the message skillfully in order to have credibility and authority.

We had our annual Family Fun Night on Friday night, which is a games night and also a concert for our Kids Club. It has a real outreach focus. I had a devotion planned with lots of amazing information in it about the human body, and then a reflection on the temporary nature of life and the more wonderful life to come, capped off by a video I’d made of a very moving song with beautiful graphics behind it and the lyrics and bible verses displayed. It was pretty impressive.

However as the night flowed on it became clear that I wasn’t going to have time to do that impressive devotion. We had an unexpected presentation to Carolyn and myself as this was our final year of Kids Club, so I just followed that up by saying very briefly why it has been so important for us to do it, and sharing a couple of verses about how believing in Jesus is the only way to receive eternal life. Knowing some of the people in the audience I knew how foolish what I said would sound to them, and I had so much wanted to gain some credibility with my amazing facts first! But I really wasn’t worried, because as verse 18 goes on to say…

^18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

If God is working His salvation in someone’s life, the foolish message of Jesus will be the power of God for salvation, regardless of what anyone else thinks. People are not saved by my cleverness, but through the gospel of Jesus Christ.

^19 For it is written:
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;
the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”

^20 Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? ^21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. ^22 Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, ^23 but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, ^24 but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. ^25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.

^26 Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. ^27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. ^28 He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, ^29 so that no one may boast before him. ^30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. ^31 Therefore, as it is written: “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.”

I want you to pay special attention to verse 30. Not only is believing the foolish message of the gospel the only way to be saved, but for those of us who have been saved Jesus has become our wisdom from God – our righteousness, holiness and redemption.

Christian preaching is to point people to Jesus Christ “in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col. 3:2).

Christian preaching is based on the authority of the Lordship of Christ, not the qualifications of the preacher. Christian preaching makes plain the treasury of wisdom and knowledge which are found in Christ, not the human wisdom of the preacher. Christian preaching teaches us how to rely on the saving power of Christ, not the helpful advice of the preacher. Christian preaching informs us how to live to the glory of Christ, not to the satisfaction of the preacher.

Look back at verse 19. It is a quote from the book of Isaiah 29:14. I would like to read to you the verse immediately before the one quoted here by Paul.

Isaiah 29:13

^13 The Lord says:
“These people come near to me with their mouth
and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.
Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men

These are the people God is talking to when He describes how He is going to frustrate their wisdom and intelligence and work in ways completely unexpected by them and unfathomable to them.

I want to point this out because if we do not humble ourselves to accept the truth that has been given us in Christ – to “humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you” (James 1:21) – if we don’t do that we become exactly what these people were. We become people who say we worship God, but really we’re just doing what we think is best, or we’re following someone else’s rules. We become governed by tradition or by legalism or by lawlessness instead of by the Living Lord – Jesus Christ. Our hearts are to be close to Him, not far away. Christian Preaching helps us to remain in Christ and not to drift away from Him, because it is always centred on Jesus.

2) Christian Preaching is Biblical

2 Peter 1:12-21

^12 So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have. ^13 I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body, ^14 because I know that I will soon put it aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. ^15 And I will make every effort to see that after my departure you will always be able to remember these things.



Do you remember the story of why the first Deacons were appointed in Acts 6? It was to protect the Apostles’ time, so they could devote themselves to prayer and the ministry of the Word. They had received the truth first hand from Jesus, and now their task was to pass that on faithfully and reliably to others. Now as Peter nears the end of his life he wants to keep reminding people of these truths, and he wants to make sure that even after he has gone that Christians will always be able to remember these things. By the grace of God we can pick up a Bible today and we can read the very truths that Peter spoke on the first occasion that he got up to preach about Jesus. We can read his letters and letters from other Apostles. We can read the stories that they told of the life of Jesus. God has preserved the message of Jesus – the Living Word – by giving to us His Written Word the Bible.

Peter goes on to say in verse 20…

^20 Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. ^21 For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

Always remember that the Bible is exactly as God wanted it to be in order to tell us what He wanted us to know. It might not tell us everything we would like to know, but it does tell us exactly what God wants us to know and what we need to know.

Peter affirms this later on in chapter 3 when he says

2 Peter 3:15-16

^15 Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. ^16 He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. 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.

Christian Preaching gets it’s voice from the Bible. It says what the Bible says, it does not distort the Scriptures but clearly proclaims them. Peter acknowledges here that there are some things that are hard to understand. That is one reason that God provides teachers to the Church, so they can study the word of God with sufficient diligence and prayerfulness to make sure they are faithfully proclaiming it and not misrepresenting it in the way so many ignorant and unstable people do.

Psalm 119:89-93, 105

^89 Your word, O Lord, is eternal;

it stands firm in the heavens.

^90 Your faithfulness continues through all generations;

you established the earth, and it endures.

^91 Your laws endure to this day,

for all things serve you.

^92 If your law had not been my delight,

I would have perished in my affliction.

^93 I will never forget your precepts,

for by them you have preserved my life.

^105 Your word is a lamp to my feet

and a light for my path.

Hebrews 4:12

^12 For 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. ^13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

2 Timothy 3:16-17

^16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, ^17 so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

If the Bible can do all this, why would we present people with anything else?

Quick Stats:

Our church is currently running a “Bibles for the Persecuted” campaign through the Bible League. Last year, on average, Bible League placed more than 34 Scriptures every minute, planted more than 16 churches every day, trained over 32 people per hour and over 1,314 people per day joined a church. That’s exciting isn’t it! It’s the power of God at work through His Word.

Last year the Bible Society distributed over 380 million items of Scripture, including 28M Bibles and 11M New Testaments. They are producing bible portions for small ethnic groups, bibles for the sight and hearing impaired and lots of other exciting projects to make sure that people in all sorts of situations have the opportunity to come into contact with the Scriptures. We hear so many stories of how God is changing lives for eternity through these efforts.

The Bible is powerful.

Christian Preaching is Centred on Christ and Sourced from Scripture.

There’s more we could say about what Christian Preaching is, but that covers it for today! The question now becomes:

So what are we to do about this?

I want you to receive the full blessing that comes through Christian preaching. I don’t want you to experience anything less than God’s best for you in this area. One thing that I can do as a preacher is to do my best to make sure that I am operating by the principles that we have talked about today. But what can you do?

I want to suggest 3 simple things for you to work on, and we can add some more later on!

1. Keep your eyes on Jesus
Remember that you are conditioned to be a self-centred observer, not a Christ-centred participant! You need to choose to be interested because your Lord wants you to be, not because the preacher is entertaining or engaging or has enough multimedia props to keep your attention. Don’t be distracted by superficial things, focus on the truths of God’s Word that are being proclaimed.

If Jesus were here in person giving instructions to His people would He find you slouched in your seat thinking about something else or wishing He would stop waving His hands around so much or some other silliness? No! You’d be switched on, paying attention, possibly writing things down to make sure you didn’t forget what He said. That’s the sort of attitude we need to have whenever the Bible is being preached.

Remember we don’t have worship time then a sermon. Everything we do together is worship. The way we listen is as important as the way we sing or play or take communion or pray or serve or anything else that we do. In fact, you could say that the way we listen to God sets the tone for how we do all those other things. Keep your eyes on Jesus.

2. Make God’s Word a Lamp to you Feet
In other words, when you hear the bible being preached engage your mind and think about how it applies to your life. Don’t expect the preacher to tell you all the ways to obey it, that’s what the Holy Spirit is for. Converse with God as you listen to the sermon, and let Him apply it to your life.

God intends for you to be different as a result of hearing His Word. He wants to transform you by the renewing of your mind, so that you will be able to discover His will for your life, follow it and discover that it really is wonderful! (Rom 12:1-3).

I sometimes hear people ask God to do things in certain areas of their lives, and I think “But God’s told you what you need to do in this area, and if you did it you wouldn’t be in the situation you’re in right now.” How can we ask God to do something when we haven’t even tried to do what He’s already told us to do? It’s as though we think “OK God, that’s your way, but it doesn’t really work for me. How about you do this instead – I think that will work much better.

Here’s what we need to do – receive the Word and do what it says! Then, as we allow the Word of God to show us how to live we’ll discover the goodness of His ways. Until we do what it says we won’t experience the blessing that comes from obedience.

I want you to understand this though – we don’t obey in order to be blessed. We obey because Jesus is Lord and we live for His glory, no matter what the outcome is for us. I worry about preaching that uses blessing as motivation for obedience. It’s just promoting selfishness, which is at the heart of sinfulness, which is at the heart of all our problems in the first place! It promotes a “What’s in this for me?” sort of attitude that is inappropriate for people who have been bought with the precious blood of Jesus Christ.

We listen and we obey in order to bring glory to God and to do the good works He’s prepared in advance for us to do, and in the process God - because of His goodness and grace - produces abundant blessings for us that are always far more satisfying than anything we could achieve for ourselves in all our selfish pursuits. Just don’t chase the blessings, live for the glory of God and leave the blessings up to Him.

I hope today you’ve been reminded of some basic principles that will enrich you and bring God glory as we share His gift of Christian Preaching to the Church that He loves.

All Scriptures taken from The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984. Grand Rapids: Zondervan

The Healing at Bethesda Pool pt 2

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As was often the case, when Jesus worked a miracle there were some who did not approve. The fact that Jesus did this miracle on the Jewish Sabbath provoked a confrontation with those Jews who had become entangled in legalism. Their focus on the letter of the law and the centuries of tradition in how the law had been applied to life blinded them to the spirit of the law and the work of God in their midst. As people we tend to swing between the extremes of legalism and lawlessness, which is a fierce independence from the law - an attitude of rebellion which says "No-one can tell me what to do!". The Bible urges us to choose freedom instead - freedom from the burden of legalism and freedom from the corruption of lawlessness. Freedom that is only found in Jesus and experienced by living by the Spirit in accordance with His Word in fellowship with His People.

The Healing at Bethesda Pool pt 2
John 5:1-16
06/09/09

Introduction
Last week we discovered 2 great principles that are contained in the story of the healing at Bethesda pool. The first was found in Jesus’ statement: “Do you want to get well?”. We reflected on the fact that there are things in all of our lives that are not well. There are areas of sickness or of weakness that need God’s healing touch. He desires to heal us, but the real issue is whether or not we want to be healed. We often apply this principle straight away to the area of physical healing, and sometimes people are even accused of limiting God’s healing power through their own doubt or lack of faith or special knowledge or some sin that prohibits God from performing a physical healing. I don’t believe the Bible supports that view in any way. That’s a separate study which I’m happy to talk to people about later. I believe the Bible clearly demonstrates that God’s priority in working His healing power in our lives places the greatest emphasis on spiritual healing – I’m not using that term in the same way that many in our society do, I’m talking about a healing of the relationship between God and us through faith in Jesus Christ which brings about reconciliation, adoption into God’s family, the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit and the journey of learning to walk in step with the Spirit until the time of our glorification when we will finally be united with God the Father, Son and Spirit, and will live with Him forever. Spiritual healing is God’s number one priority, and both the Old and New Testaments describe how He has often and will often use physical chastening – including sickness and suffering – to bring about this more important healing in the area of our spiritual life.

The Bible also clearly talks about God’s priority to heal our social relationships – our relationships with people, whether that is in our earthly families, our friends, our colleagues, our Church family, our enemies and so on. God wants to bring about right relationship between people.

Another great priority for God is healing in the area of our moral character. He wants us to be people who do what is right. He wants us to be pure and holy. This goes together with our spiritual and our social life. You can’t have right relationship with God or with people without a personal commitment to do what is right.

We could go on talking about the many areas of our lives: our thought life, our emotions, our finances, our circumstances and so on. Jesus said in John 10:10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” Jesus wants to bring you to a point of full and unhindered life. He wants to heal the things that are not well in each and every part of our lives, but His priorities in doing so are not the same as what we might prescript for ourselves. We might think “I’d rather have a healthy body and a selfish heart”. I suspect that Jesus would say “I’d rather you have a weakened body and heart full of love and wisdom and thankfulness. That’s going to do a lot more good and bring me a lot more glory than just another person who’s healthy on the outside but rotten on the inside”.

We’ve got to answer the question “Do you want to get well”, because Jesus wants all of us to get well. He’s got healing work to do in you and in me if we will let him. None of us are perfect, so what does Jesus want to heal in you today? Will you let him?

The second statement was “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk”. Having accepted Jesus’ offer of healing, the man now had to obey. Jesus is Saviour and He is Lord. If we want His saving power we must also want His rightful lordship over us. We must choose obedience as a core attitude in our lives. “Whatever you say Lord, I will do”. If you can’t say that you are not treating Jesus as Lord but as something far less. We need to search out His commands and put them into practice, then we will see the healing power of Christ at work in our lives. The man didn’t know he could walk until he got up and walked. How often do the commands of Jesus seem to difficult for us, and we settle for disobedience instead? “Yes I know the Bible says to do this but I’ve got all these problems – it’s too much for me!” If Jesus is Lord you will do what He says, and trust Him for the power to carry it out.

Today we are going to continue in the story, and we’ll discover two more key statements that are going to really challenge us.

The man by the pool has been healed after 38 years spent crippled by sickness or injury. He rises, takes up his mat and leaves the area in which he has been a virtual prisoner. The pool of Bethesda was near the sheep gate in Jerusalem, adjoining the Temple area. It’s quite likely that as he walked away carrying his mat that he would have passed by many devout Jews and their religious leaders.

From John 5:9b - 16

The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, 10 and so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat.”
11 But he replied, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’”
12 So they asked him, “Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?”
13 The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.
14 Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” 15 The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.
16 So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jews persecuted him.


The third key point in this story is found in the statement of the Jews in verse 10…

3. “It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat.”

There are two things that upset these particular Jews – these were probably religious leaders who were present around the temple area. The first is that this man is carrying a mat on the Sabbath.

Exodus 31 records God’s command to Moses that anyone who does any work on the Sabbath should be put to death! (Ex. 31:14)

In Jeremiah 17 we read…
19 This is what the LORD said to me: “Go and stand at the gate of the people, through which the kings of Judah go in and out; stand also at all the other gates of Jerusalem. 20 Say to them, ‘Hear the word of the LORD, O kings of Judah and all people of Judah and everyone living in Jerusalem who come through these gates. 21 This is what the LORD says: Be careful not to carry a load on the Sabbath day or bring it through the gates of Jerusalem. 22 Do not bring a load out of your houses or do any work on the Sabbath, but keep the Sabbath day holy, as I commanded your forefathers.

Imagine seeing someone coming in through the gates of Jerusalem carrying what you consider to be a load, in defiance of God’s law. If you are zealous for the law of God, you are going to be concerned by that!

So these Jews confront the man about his behaviour. He’s in trouble, so like most men since the time of Adam, he quickly shifts the blame! “I was told to do it by the guy who healed me” he says.

“Who is this guy?” they ask, but the man can’t tell them because Jesus has slipped away.

We very often condemn the Jewish religious leaders and teachers because of their strict adherence to centuries of tradition which seemed more important to them than the Scriptures themselves. Certainly, the thinking of these particular Jews as to what constituted working on the Sabbath and what constituted a load which was prohibited on the Sabbath came from these sorts of traditions.

Just like the Jews we need to be careful to recognise what the Bible actually says as opposed to how it has been understood by others and how it has been applied by others. Tradition can be a very helpful guide, but it must not be our authority.

But I want us to recognise that even if we took away those centuries of tradition which specified how heavy a load you were allowed to carry and how far you could walk on the Sabbath and so on, even the Old Testament Scriptures themselves give sufficient cause for these people to say “Hey, what are you doing there? God has clearly said that you must not work or carry loads into Jerusalem on this day.”

If they had done that they would have learnt - if they had not already recognised this man – that he had just been healed by God of a long affliction, and was simply going home! He was doing what God had told him to do.

That’s not a violation of God’s Sabbath laws. He’s not desecrating the Sabbath by choosing to do the things that he could do any other day of the week. He’s not refusing to spend a day in rest and meditation upon God’s works for them and His words to them. That’s what those laws are about. These laws are intended to safeguard purity and be a blessing to the people. Instead, this legalistic approach of the Jews turns the law into a burden.

These particular Jews are not concerned with the reality of what is going on and what God is doing. Their only concern is that their interpretation of God’s law is being violated, and they are angry about it.

The conclusion they reach about carrying the mat also applies to the work that Jesus did in performing the miracle. In their minds, that type of work was included in what God had forbidden on the Sabbath. We read in verse 16 that because Jesus did these things on the Sabbath, the Jews persecuted Him.

The rest of chapter 5 records Jesus’ response to these Jews. We’ll go through it in detail later, but for now I want to simply point you toward verses 39 and 40, where Jesus says:
“39 You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, 40 yet you refuse to come to me to have life”

Their legalistic approach to the Old Testament Scriptures actually prevented them from understanding the true message, which was always to point people to Christ. In Him is our life, but we must come to Him as Saviour and Lord in order to receive it.

I want to spend some time today addressing the issue of legalism that this passage brings to our attention. I want to also address the related problem of lawlessness.

Legalism is where the letter of the law, and a particular interpretation of the law is what matters most. Everyone needs to fit within very tightly defined behavioural boundaries, and those boundaries are often heavily policed! There might be very good reasons behind those laws but sometimes those reasons get a bit lost, and just the law remains. No drinking. No smoking. No playing cards. No dancing. No listening to radio or watching TV. No shopping on Sunday. No sport on Sunday.

It might sound as though I’m making fun of some of those rules but I’m not. I’m just reciting some of the common rules that many of you would be familiar with which aren’t actually found in the Bible. They are rules that have been made because of what people read in the Bible and how they’ve applied the Bible to life.

At the opposite end of the spectrum to Legalism is Lawlessness. Legalism takes God’s Law and the principles taught in Scripture and adds more laws to it. It focuses on behaviour rather than on heart attitudes and seeks conformity to an external standard instead of transformation to the internal standard of Christ-likeness.

Lawlessness is where people don’t want to be conformed or transformed! They are a law unto themselves. Whatever I think is right is right for me. It’s like the people of Israel during the period of the Judges. The book of Judges is quite chaotic in many ways, the tribes have split up to do their own thing, there’s no effective system of accountability and we read of some horrible incidents where evil behaviour is tolerated and practiced among the people of God. The book finishes with a very telling statement: “In those days Israel had no king, everyone did what was right in their own eyes” (Jdg. 21:25).

There are a lot of Christians who live the same way. They reject the many passages in the Bible in which we are told to be accountable to one another, where we are urged to discipline one another in love, to challenge each other and correct each other. If you dare seek to confront an attitude or behaviour, even to simply question them about it without making any assumptions or judgements, then you are guaranteed to get a nasty response. We know that about people and that’s why there are some people who we just don’t go there with. We don’t challenge them. We don’t rebuke or warn or any of those things that they really need us to do for them in love.

A key passage that speaks about this is Galatians 5:13 – 15…
13 You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. 14 The entire law is summed up in a single command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 15 If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.

What matters are the heart attitudes that cause us to do what we do. If our heart’s desire is to honour God in serving one another, then we will use our freedom to be a wonderful blessing and to see God’s work progress. We will not get up in arms if Jesus breaks one of our rules in healing someone’s sickness like those Jews did, but we will rejoice in the goodness of God.

However if we use our freedom to indulge the sinful nature, then the result will be destruction for us.

To illustrate the principle of lawlessness I want to share a story from my own life – I’m not sure if some of you have heard it before. I had a young friend who was a new Christian – he was on fire for the Lord and full of joy in the new life that God had given him. However he was part of a group of young people in our church that was becoming interested in going to nightclubs. A legalist would look at that situation and say “Christians don’t belong in places like that”. Certainly that’s what the religious leaders of Jesus’ day said about good Jews – they just wouldn’t be seen in those sorts of environments and with those sort of people.

Jesus went into those environments and mixed with those sorts of people and He explained that He had a mission to seek and to save the lost. It’s not the healthy who need a doctor but the sick (Lk 5:31). Jesus was in the process of saving a tax collector named Matthew, who became a disciple and wrote a gospel that testifies to Jesus Christ.

There have been countless Christians who have followed Jesus’ example and gone into places of darkness and connected with people in darkness in order to bring the light of Jesus Christ into that situation. They do not fear the evil present because Jesus promised that the gates of Hell would not be able to overcome His Church. Today there are many Christians who go to Mardi Gras’ and red light districts and nightclubs and so on to rescue others from the dominion of darkness. They go there in holy fear and in righteous indignation, not to flirt with evil but to overcome it. Legalists have real problems with that.

But there have far, far too many Christians who have gone into those places not to represent Jesus but to escape Him. They have gone there because they like what they find. They get angry if they are challenged and say “Well Jesus went to places like this, you are being just like the Pharisees who condemned Him.” They won’t accept the warning and admonishment of Christians who are concerned for their souls and their witness.

And Satan laughs as instead of resisting him these people flirt with him, thinking they can have their fun and then skip away. My young friend followed his Christian peer group into a place that was saturated with sexual provocation. The music, the environment, the clothing, the styles of dancing – everything conspired to pull him into temptation. They did not flee it together - they courted it, and it won them over. It shipwrecked his faith and I have no idea today where he stands with God.

My friends we have got to be allowing the Spirit of God to bring conviction in our hearts through the Word of God as it is shared with us by the people of God. We must not become a law unto ourselves. We must not despise the grace of God by considering it to give us a free pass to sin. It doesn’t.

In Colossians 1:28 Paul says…
28 We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ.

An attitude of lawlessness says “Teach all you like, but it’s up to the Holy Spirit to convict people. Don’t you try tell me what I should or shouldn’t be doing, you just teach the Bible.” And of course people want a lot more than that from their Pastor – they want help or comfort or support in whatever they are struggling with. But we’re not keen on admonishment – a warning from Scripture about how we are living.

However Paul says that both are needed – the teaching and the admonishment. That’s how to present people perfect in Christ.

I confess to you that I have not admonished as much as I ought to have. I’ve got to say that I struggle to admonish people who are older than myself. The young adults cop plenty! I have offered some admonishment to others on a few occasions but to be quite frank the results haven’t been that encouraging.

Paul wrote to Timothy, who was probably about my age, with this advice:
Do not rebuke an older man harshly, but exhort him as if he were your father. Treat younger men as brothers, 2 older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters, with absolute purity.
(1 Timothy 5:1-2)

This is something that I am working on – a gentle and respectful exhortation that does not hold back from sharing the Word of God to warn and to challenge. The Bible commands all of us to be willing to do that for each other. It’s not a spirit of legalism, it’s a spirit that wants to honour Christ, protect the purity of His Church and save a brother or sister from danger. Admonishing one another takes great humility, because it requires us to first test our own lives and attitudes.

The final point in this passages is very serious but I will comment on it just briefly.

Jesus found the man at the temple and said…
4. “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you."

Jesus isn’t implying that the man’s sickness was a punishment, which is what people often assumed. He is warning that if this man continues in sin, something worse than spending 38 years as an invalid will be the result.

That reflects what I mentioned earlier – physical healing is not the greatest need in our lives. Having a healthy body in this life doesn’t seem so important when compared to an eternity either with our without Christ.

When we read through the first 3 chapters of Revelation, we discover some very serious consequences if some of those churches do not listen to Jesus’ correction and change their attitudes and actions. Some are even threatened with extinction – their church will die if they do not heed Jesus’ rebuke.

What do you want for your own life? Do you want to glorify Jesus and experience His blessing, or will He be forced to discipline you as Hebrews 12 and other places describe?

What do you want for our church? Are you building it up or contributing to its demise? Don’t look at what anyone else is doing or not doing – you are accountable to your own Master just as they are.

All Scriptures taken from The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984. Grand Rapids: Zondervan