Christ Church

Why “All of Christ for All of Life”

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INTRODUCTION

As God has called different ministries to various aspects of His kingdom work in this world, they have often been characterized by different tag lines or summary statements. William Carey, the father of modern missions, said, “Expect great things from God, attempt great things for God.” Desiring God says that “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.” Hudson Taylor is known for saying that “God’s work done in God’s way will never lack God’s supply.” And we have summarized the emphasis of our ministry here with “All of Christ for all of life.” Depending on the context, we might add for “for all of Moscow,” or “for all the world.”

THE TEXT

“And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen” (Matthew 28:18–20).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

The Great Commission can be divided into three parts. The first is the declaration. All authority has been given to me” (v. 18). The second is the commandment. “Go ye therefore . . .” (vv. 19-20a). And the third is the promise— “I am with you always . . .” (v. 20b).

Because Christ has been given all authority both in Heaven and on earth, this means that this commission trumps the wishes of all others. We are given this task on the basis of the authority that has been given to Christ. We know that He has this authority of the strength of multiple passages. He has been given the nations as His inheritance, the ends of the earth for His possession (Ps. 2:8). He approached the Ancient of Days and was given dominion, glory and a kingdom that will never be destroyed (Dan. 7:13-14). The government will rest on His shoulders, and of the increase of that government there will be no end (Is. 9:6-7). In short, He has the authority to issue this command. 

The command is to go out and to do so on this basis. He says “Go therefore.” The basic verb is matheteuo, which means to disciple. Disciple the tribes, the nations, the ethnoi. No civic unit is excluded. This is to be done by baptizing them in the triune name, and by teaching them to obey everything Jesus said.

Then there is the promise. Jesus says that as we engage in this task, He will be constantly with us, even to the end of the age (v. 20). And we see elsewhere in Scripture that this does not exclude the “age to come” (Eph. 1:21).  

CONSIDER ALL THE ALLS

The word for all in this passage is pas. It is used four times. Jesus here claims to have all authority (exousia). He tells us to disciple all nations. He explains that this involves teaching them to obey all the commands He ever gave. And He concludes by telling us that He will be with us all the time.

This commandment is frankly staggering, and it is no surprise that the promise is attached to it. And even despite that promise, we still have a tendency to cook this commission in the reduction sauce of careful exegesis, and  

THE REASON WE ARE OVERWHELMED

The reason we are so often overwhelmed in our Christian lives, whether singly or when considering the church at large, is that we have reduced the monumental task to one that is bigger than we are, but one we still think we might be able to handle. But we can’t, because we are fighting in our own wisdom. The task is enormous. If we keep it that size, then we are going to have to look beyond ourselves to the power and strength of God. Christ gave the promise for a reason. After Isaiah said that of the increase of His government there would be no end, what else did he say? “The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this.”

And this is why the statement of the great Thomas Chalmers is so pertinent. “Regardless of how large, your vision is too small.”

INTO THE CORNERS

Now “all of life” includes absolutely everything, and that can be scary. This means family life, education, economics, resource management, divorce law, sacraments, warfare, moon exploration, word processing, AI, robotics, watercolors, and the cooking of soufflés. If you think I am leaving anything out, just throw that in. So where do we start?

Not surprisingly, we start with your own heart. Repent of your sins. Look to Christ. Trust in Him as your only possible righteousness. From there it should move out to your family, and the principal and characteristic note there should be godly kindness. Not push-over kindness, and not intransigent harshness. Kindness. From that position, consider your vocation—scholar, merchant, tradesman, or other—and in that vocation seek to combine high honesty and peerless competence. 

As we learn to excel in what God has called us to, what happens? “Do you see a man who excels in his work? He will stand before kings; He will not stand before unknown men” (Proverbs 22:29). Working quietly with our hands, on the task that is right in front of us, is God’s appointed method for getting us to fan out across the globe (1 Thess. 4:11). So the process should be heart > family > world. And you are equipped at every stage of this process when you appear before God, together with your family, on the Lord’s Day, in order to worship Him. 

Sin is off limits, naturally. But nothing else is.

CHRIST IS LORD

In a saner time, the word secular did not mean godless. Secular meant auto mechanics as distinct from singing psalms in worship—but secular did not mean godless. It did not mean unbelieving. The secular world was not an autonomous realm, but rather the realm of the kingdom outside the church proper. 

The sacred space is here, as we are gathered to worship God in the name of Jesus Christ. This is the day that is set apart, and this time is consecrated to sacred use. The bread that we break here is the body of God. But the bread that you break over lunch tomorrow is not polluted bread. You say grace over it. It is consecrated to secular use, in the name of Jesus Christ. And the same thing goes for everything you might touch. 

“Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31). 

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A More Excellent Way (Philippians #6)

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Introduction

As we consider the state of our Christian lives, some of the things we have to deal with are the knotted topics of desire, envy, competition, and ambition. Considering the next two verses in Philippians, we should pay some attention to competition, something dear to the heart of most Americans. But because of this we must guard our step. You have heard many times that we must learn to repent of our virtues, and here is a good place to start.

The Text

“Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others” (Phil. 2:3-4).

Summary of the Text

This passage is taken from the chapter in which the perfect humility of Christ was exalted to the highest place. This is not presented to us as a striking anomaly, but rather as being central to what we as Christians are called to imitate. So how many things are we allowed to do because of our striving (v. 3)? Nothing. How about vainglory (v. 3)? Nothing again. What should our mindset be toward others? The apostle Paul replies we should consider them “better,” that is, more important than we do ourselves. This is to be our central disposition. This is to be characteristic of the groove in which our mind runs. Paul then says that we are not to look on our own things (v. 4), but also on the things of others (v. 4). This word in the second half of the phrase helps us to understand what is meant in the first half. This is a comparative statement, not an absolute statement. It is similar to when Paul tells each of us to carry our own burden (Gal. 6:5), carry his own weight. This is fully consistent with his exhortation for us to carry one another’s burdens (Gal. 6:2). Only the mind of Christ can sort this out.

Devil Take the Hindmost? 

There is a laissez-faire approach to competition that is very important for the civil magistrate to remember when it comes to the question of him restricting, regulating, organizing, or otherwise botching economic activity. But, as you have been reminded many times, there is a difference between sins and crimes. And just because something ought not to be criminal, with penalties attached, does not mean that it is spiritually healthy and automatically non-sinful. Lust ought not to be against the law, but that doesn’t make it okay. The civil magistrate is not competent to outlaw greed either, and all messianic attempts to do so have been disastrous. However . . . greed is a serious sin.

There are Christians who see this, and who conclude from it that a “let ‘er rip” attitude should be allowed everywhere. But the civil magistrate is not prohibited from addressing greed because it is an invisible sin. It is not invisible, and other governments that God established are required to deal with it. A family can see and identify what their problem is. “He that is greedy of gain troubleth his own house; but he that hateth gifts shall live” (Prov. 15:27). And the church is required to exclude from ecclesiastical office men who are greedy. “Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous” (1 Tim. 3:3; cf. 3:8). The civil government must not give way to this sin itself (Ex. 18:21). The Bible requires us not to elect officials unless they hate covetousness. We have taken this to mean that we shouldn’t vote for them unless they are steeped in it. Our political parties taken together constitute a Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Money.

Now the fact that even a good civil government is not competent to outlaw greed does not mean that no entity is competent to deal with it. The family and church must deal with it, and civil government must resist temptations to this vice itself.

Better How?

In our text, the word “better” is a rendering of hyperecho. What does lowliness of mind require of us in this? Remember we are trying to build the mind of Christ, which cannot be done out of two-by-fours. We tend to read the English here as requiring us to believe that the other person is better at doing whatever it is we might be comparing, which is obviously crazy. Having run into this superficial roadblock, we dismiss the entire problem from our minds. But this is dangerous. 

The word hyperecho can also be rendered as “to be above, to stand out.” That does not make the other person automatically right, or superior in his abilities. Remember that the one we are imitating in this is the Lord Jesus—when He became a man, He did so because He believed we were “better” (in this sense) than He was. This obviously has to means the sense of “more important, more valued.” Jesus did not die for us because we were better than He was in some moral sense. He died for us because He loved us more than He loved His own life. So the issue is humility and love, and nothing in this requires us to embrace absurdities.

Bearing Burdens

Now our task is to learn how to bear our own burden (providing for our own family, meeting our own responsibilities) at the same time we are careful to bear one another’s burdens (holding to a true fellowship of goods). The early Christians kept their own property (Acts 5:4) and they held all things in common (Acts 4:32-33). Here are a few basic principles as we pursue the mind of Christ, as we long for “great grace to be upon us all.”

Make sure you deal first with desire and envy, which run down the middle of every human heart. Deal with all the big problems there first. And don’t think that thirty seconds reflection or mere intellectual assent is going to do the trick. Mortify envy. Learn to hate it like nothing else.

Secondly, learn how justice fits into grace. Don’t go the other way, trying to fit grace into justice. Grace corrodes when stored in justice. Justices thrives and grows strong in the context of grace. It is better to be taken to the cleaners because you loaned money, expecting nothing back (Luke 6:35) than to have an evil eye, tight fist, and wary heart (Mk. 7:22).

Third, work hard and intelligently, expecting your work to not only provide for your family, but also to be a blessing to any brother who is “competing” for the same customers you are. That’s impossible, you say. Tell it to God, who traffics in impossibilities. Zero-sum thinking is the logic of unbelief—where more for you means less for me. That is not the world in which the kingdom grows. 

Living in a Cut-Throat World

Keeping ourselves free from strife and vainglory seems like an overwhelming task sometimes. What are to do about the outside world, which does not appear to be functioning with this calculus at all? What grasping and ravenous entities are out there? Besides Microsoft, the U.S. Government, assorted televangelists, the Republicrats, the United Nations, the Southern Poverty Law Center, and more? What should we do about all that? First, we must not envy them (Prov. 3:29-32; 23:17-18). Second, we must not imitate them or their ways (Matt. 20:25-26). And third, we should live in our communities such that we teach them a more excellent way (1 Cor. 12:31). As we do this, we are encouraging one another in that same “more excellent way.” That way is the mind of Christ.

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The Stepping Stones of Like-Mindedness (Philippians #5)

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Introduction

We have already had occasion to look at Paul’s concern for like-mindedness as expressed in this letter, and we should remember that later on he appeals for peace between Euodia and Syntyche (Phil.4:2-3).  Given this emphasis on like-mindedness, and its relationship to joy, also a theme of this epistle, it will profit us to meditate on this topic in greater detail.  

The Text

“If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind” (Philippians 2:1–2). 

Summary of the Text

Paul begins with a set of hypothetical conditionals. If there is any consolation in Christ—but of course there is abundant consolation in Christ (v.1). If there is any comfort of love—there was certainly comfort of love (v. 1). If there is any fellowship of the Spirit—and how could there not be?—then something else should certainly follow. If there were any “bowels and mercies,” as the KJV has it, and without doubt there were such bowels and mercies, then what? Paul asks them to fill up the measure of his joy, by doing what? He urges them to be like-minded, to share the same love, to be of one accord, and of one mind (v. 2). This whole subject is apparently a big deal for Paul. 

The Stepping Stones of Like-mindedness

We should pay close attention to the hypothetical conditionals that Paul is using here. He is not bringing up one set of certainties in order to point to another ethical duty, completely unrelated. That would have been something like “if the sun rises in the east, then you should take care to be like-minded.” No. What he is giving is the first set of stepping stones toward the like-minded he is urging. If you have taken these first steps, you should fulfill the apostle’s joy by taking the next step.

No one is actually laboring for ecumenical unity in the broader church unless they start here. Have they experienced true consolation in Christ? Have they been comforted by His love? Has the Holy Spirit poured out the spirit of koinonia-fellowship on them. Has their experience of these things been such that it has been a gut-churning experience—“bowels and mercies”? Many of the modern translations render this word (splanchnon) as mere affection, which is far too anemic. 

As Martyn Lloyd-Jones once put it, ecumenical unity cannot be achieved simply by putting all the corpses into one graveyard 

Balanced and Eager

We live in a culture that is held together by lies. Many of these lies have successfully gotten into the church, and it is not rare for the purveyor of one of these newly arrived lies to turn to us and tell us we should accept it because “does not the apostle urge us on to like-mindedness?” Yes, he does, but he also tells us that we should not be blown around by the deceitful cunning of false teachers (Eph. 4:14).

Paul elsewhere tells us what a good approach should be when you encounter a new doctrine, or a new emphasis, or when a subject entirely new to you arises. He says this: “Test all things; hold fast what is good” (1 Thess. 5:21).

And Luke describes this same demeanor in action. 

“These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so” (Acts 17:11). 

They were ready and eager to accept this teaching. It would be wonderful, if true. But if it was not true, then it would a snare and a delusion. They were ready to accept it, once tested against the benchmark that God has given to us.

“And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, And unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: Should not a people seek unto their God? For the living to the dead? To the law and to the testimony: If they speak not according to this word, It is because there is no light in them” (Isaiah 8:19–20). 

Not the Lowest Common Denominator

Too many Christians look at all the things we differ over—baptism, eschatology, church government, soteriology, and more—and try to simply remove the things that they think are getting in the way. But unity is not caused by getting rid of things, making sure certain things are absent. “Just drop eschatology from the statement of faith, and then we could all agree.” But unity is not brought about by the absence of certain doctrines, but rather by the presence of a certain Person.

We should not focus on all the ingredients we took out. We should take care that we have made sure certain things are kept in—consolation, Christ, comfort, love, koinonia, the Spirit, and all of it in a way that is felt in the gut. In the original, Paul is urging us to gut-mercies.

Prepping for the Verses That Follow 

As we move into the meat of chapter 2, we are going to encounter some challenging exhortations. We need to prep for it. We must get ourselves ready. We start to do that here.

Paul wants us to fulfill his joy by doing one thing. Or, better, by doing four different things that all amount to the same thing. He says that we should be likeminded. He says that we are to have the “same love.” He says that we should be of “one accord.” And then he also tells us to be “of one mind.” The word that is rendered as “one accord” is sympsychos. Think intertwined souls.

I reminded you last Lord’s Day that this congregation is one organism. It is one body, and all of you as individual organs have a different and crucial role to play. But never leaves Christ out of anything. This one body that I speak is the body of Christ. You are the body of Christ.

This means that every quarrelsome sentiment you utter, every cantankerous complaint, every proud boast, every self-serving attempt to grasp something, every thrown elbow, every haughty sneer is . . . is what? It is an attempt to make the body of Christ a spastic body. But however many pastoral problems you create in the meantime, this attempt cannot be successful. At the end of this process, the body of Christ is perfect and complete—like a bride without spot, or wrinkle, or any such blemish (Eph. 5:27).

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A Two-Fold Grace (Philippians #4)

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INTRODUCTION

The apostle urged the Philippians to walk in a manner that was worthy of the gospel of Christ. But he does not just offer a generic “be nice” sort of exhortation. The thing that is worthy of the gospel is unity in the gospel. When many minds, voices, and hands come together to strive for the advancement of the gospel, this is something that adorns the gospel itself—in the same way that apples adorn an apple tree.  

THE TEXT

“Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel; And in nothing terrified by your adversaries: which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that of God. For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake; Having the same conflict which ye saw in me, and now hear to be in me” (Philippians 1:27–30). 

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

Paul’s exhortation to the Philippians is that they are to have their conduct fit together well with the gospel of Christ (v. 27). When our behavior is worthy of the gospel, we are not talking about anything like merit. We are not earning the gospel, or deserving anything through our works. Rather it is simple matter of consistency—do our lives go together with the gospel as preached? What Paul means by this is that he wants them to be unified. He wants to come and see that reality in them, or if he is absent, he wants to hear about it (v. 27). He wants them to stand fast in one spirit, and he is eager for them to be striving together for the faith of the gospel in one mind. One spirit, one mind. 

Being unified in the gospel like this is bound to provoke opposition, and the fact that Christians can be fearless in the face of such opposition is a terrifying thing for the persecutors (v. 28). Remember that true Christian likemindedness is the fast road to being called a cult member. And also remember from earlier in the chapter that how to live is Christ, and to die is more Christ. This places the Christian completely out of the persecutor’s reach, and this is deeply unsettling to them. It is proof that they are sons of perdition, and that you are among the saved (v. 28). The Philippians had been given a two-fold gift, a two-fold grace—not only to believe in Christ, but also to suffer for Him (v. 29). They had seen Paul go through this sort of trial, and they had also heard of his imprisonment—and now they were going through it all themselves (v. 30). 

LIKE-MINDEDNESS IS NOT GROUPTHINK

I have sometimes thought that atheists and infidels must run secret versions of “Vacation Bible School” for all the infidel children. This is where they first learned to quote verses like “judge not lest ye be judged.” And they sing little songs to help them remember everything. Another thing that unbelievers do is this. They first complain about all the divisions among Christians. “Look at all the denominations. You guys can’t even get along.” And yet when the grace of God is poured out on believers, such that there is true unity of mind in evidence, their response is to accuse everyone of belonging to a cult. So wisdom is vindicated by her children (Luke 7:32). 

FEARFUL PERSECUTORS

We sometimes imagine that the enemies of God are much more bold than they actually are. Herod the Great sat on a throne, but he certainly sat on it nervously. He was spooked by news of a baby. And his son, Herod Antipas, was threatened by a fierce man who lived in the desert, and who lived on a diet of locusts and honey. But why? John the Baptist had no regiments. The apostle Paul was once held prisoner by Felix, and as the apostle spoke of things like righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come (Acts 24:25), it was Felix who trembled. And when Pilate was talking to Jesus, holding the power to condemn Him in his hands, with a mob outside shouting, when they repeated what Jesus had said, it was Pilate who feared (John 19:8).

We might here repurpose the words of the economist Thomas Sowell, who once said, “It’s amazing how much panic one honest man can spread among a multitude of hypocrites.” 

When the grace of God surrounds Christians in a time of persecution, this communicates something to everyone involved. The believers know that God “will never leave them or forsake them.” They know that God is with them, and so they are deeply encouraged. But this presence of God is noticed by everyone—not just the believers. As Paul puts it here, this celestial calm is an evident token to them of their perdition.  

A TWO-FOLD GRACE

The Philippians had been given a two-fold gift. The first gift was that of believing in Christ in the first place. But if a man were to say to his wife, “not only did I give you the bracelet, I also gave you the necklace,” how many gifts did he give? That is correct—two. If Paul says that not only was the gift of faith given to them, but also the gift of suffering, we can see that faith in God through Christ is itself a gift of God. 

Scripture teaches us this in various places. Peter says that we have obtained a precious faith through the righteousness of God and Christ (2 Pet. 1:1). Paul says that we saved by grace through faith and that [faith] is not of yourselves, but is rather a gift of God—lest anyone boast (Eph. 2:8-10). And the faith that healed the crippled man was a faith that was “by him” (Acts 3:16).

And so just as faith is a gift from a sovereign God who knows exactly what He is doing, so also are all the persecutions that have broken out over the centuries. When the apostles were flogged for their preaching (Acts 5:40), what was their response?

“And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name” (Acts 5:41).

It was an honor to be so dishonored. It was a grace to be disgraced. Notice how this suffering meant to them that they were “counted worthy” to be shamed for the sake of His name. And our text in Philippians tells us to let our conduct be worthy of the gospel that we are striving to advance. And so what does this mean? It means like-mindedness through shared suffering.

And following the Christ who has gone before us.

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