Toby Sumpter Archives - Page 15 of 57

Anxiety & Thanksgiving (King’s Cross)

Christ Church on November 19, 2023

INTRODUCTION

We live in a world full of anxiety and stress. And far too often, Christians default to unbelieving assumptions, diagnosing their problems as circumstances, environment, diet, or chemicals. While sometimes material changes can help, God’s Word says our central need is Christ. In Him is a peace that passes all understanding, a peace that is a fortress for our hearts and minds.

The Text: “Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice. Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. Be careful for nothing…” (Phil. 4:

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

As Paul brings this letter in for a landing, he exhorts the Philippians to stand fast in the Lord and to be likeminded (Phil. 4:1-2), which leads to a series of four commands and a promise, with a final exhortation for doing so. The first command is a doubled: rejoice in the Lord always, and again, rejoice (Phil. 4:4). Obedience to that command goes a long way toward making your gentleness obvious to everyone around you (including your kids), which is the next command, but the foundation of that gentleness is the presence of the Lord: the Lord is near (Phil. 4:5). The third command is to be anxious for nothing (Phil. 4:6), which is greatly assisted by obeying the fourth command: to bring your requests to God with thanksgiving (Phil. 4:6). Obedience to all of these commands brings with it the promise that the peace of God will be an impenetrable castle around your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus (Phil. 4:7). And Christians practice that joy and peace by meditating on all the true, lovely, and virtuous things (Phil. 4:8).

LAW & GOSPEL

Before talking about these commands in particular, we need to talk about what we should think about biblical commands in general first. There are two fundamentally different approaches to God’s law and commands. One approach says that if you obey God’s law, you can achieve righteousness, and be accepted by God. The other approach says that you cannot obey the law perfectly, and therefore you can only be accepted by God through Christ’s perfect obedience for you (Phil. 3:9, Gal. 3:10-13). The Bible says that the second understanding is correct: even if you obeyed most of the law but disobeyed at one point, you have broken the whole law (Js. 2:10). This is because breaking God’s law is personal defiance of the living God, and the same God who said not to steal, also said not to commit sexual immorality and not to lie (Js. 2:11).

So those who insist on trying to keep the law to achieve their own righteousness will be condemned by the law, but those who trust in Jesus Christ, are released from the demands of the law and accepted by God (Rom. 8:1). Christ is accepted in their place both as perfectly righteous and obedient and as the One who receives the penalty that we deserved for our disobedience (Rom. 8:2-3). And those who trust in Christ for all of this also receive His Holy Spirit who begins to work in us the power and desire to obey (Rom. 8:4-5). These two paths are called “works righteousness” and the “righteousness of faith.” Works righteousness is a treadmill of despair, but the righteousness of faith is God’s escalator carrying you to glory.

REJOICE IN THE LORD ALWAYS

It’s important to begin with those two paths because if you are on the “works righteousness” treadmill, “rejoicing always” will seem like an impossible task. Then add “let your gentleness be known to all men” and “be anxious for nothing,” and it’s like somebody keeps dropping bricks into your backpack and pretty soon you might be ready to let something else be known to all men. Nobody rejoices always, much less is anyone ever gentle to everyone or never anxious about anything. These commands, like all the commands in Scripture, can only be received in one of two ways: either as raw law (“do this and live or fail and die”) or else as the righteousness received by faith alone (“Christ has done this for me, and His Spirit will work this in me”). One is a “got to,” and the other is a “get to.” One is the burden of a continual threat and a whip; the other is the grateful response to incredibly good news. The demand of the law condemns every infraction, but the righteousness of faith is first of all the announcement, “there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1). And what is the believing response to that verdict from God the Judge? Amazing grace, how sweet the sound! Hallelujah, what a Savior! What’s the response? Rejoicing. Rejoicing in the Lord always. And when that saving God is near, God’s kindness and gentleness cannot help but be known to all men. All anxiety fades away.

PRAYER WITH THANKSGIVING

Being accepted by God for the sake of Christ is the foundation of an anxiety-free life. But God gives two additional tools here for fighting anxiety: thanksgiving and petition. The first step is thanksgiving. We are to make our petitions known to God with thanksgiving (Phi. 4:6). Sometimes prayers are just worrying in front of God, but thanksgiving is the God-ordained package we are to deliver our petitions in. Gratitude is what prepares us to actually present our requests. So whatever the trouble, whatever the worry, begin by thanking God for it. The same God who sent His only Son for you has allowed this trouble, this challenge in your life for your good. So thank Him. And then having honestly thanked God for the hardship, ask Him to take it, ask Him to deliver you, ask Him to change it. Present your request.

Christians are not people who do not notice problems or dangers. Christians are people who know what to do with all of those cares: “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you” (1 Pet. 5:6-7). In a strange irony, anxious people are actually being supremely arrogant. Anxious people insist on carrying their own burdens and refuse to cast them on the Lord. But your hand is not mighty enough; that’s why you’re so stressed out. That’s why your gentleness is not known to all men. But God’s hand is mighty; He can handle your cares and He cares for you like no one else. And the promise is that when you pray like this, God’s peace that passes all understanding will stand guard at your heart and mind in Christ Jesus (Phil 4:7).

CONCLUSION: MAKE A LIST

The final exhortation is to make a list, to count, to log all the true things, all the honest things, all the just, pure, lovely, praiseworthy, and virtuous things. This is biblical therapy, if you like. How do you break bad habits of worry, or bad habits of any disobedient thoughts? Make a list of what to think about: beautiful things, true things, just things, praiseworthy things: the air in your lungs, refreshing water, sunrises and sunsets, chocolate, Psalms, good jokes, forgiveness.

God’s Open Doors (The Continuing Adventures of Jesus #23) (King’s Cross)

Christ Church on November 12, 2023

INTRODUCTION

Acts is about the continuing work of Jesus through His Spirit bringing the gospel from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth. Not only is Jesus doing this, but what we find is that He has also prepared the world for this: synagogues functioned as open doors for the gospel, but the Gentiles were also being prepared for faith. And Jesus continues to work this way, going ahead of His people, preparing the way, turning everything, even trouble and tribulation, into a door that leads to the Kingdom.

The Text: “And there sat a certain man at Lystra, impotent in his feet, being a cripple from his mother’s womb, who never had walked…” (Acts 14:8-28)

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

Paul heals a man in Lystra, lame in his feet from birth, and the city erupts acclaiming Barnabas as Jupiter and Paul as Mercury (Acts 14:8-12). As the priest of Jupiter was preparing a sacrifice in their honor, the apostles tore their clothes and interrupted the proceeding, urging the people to turn to the living God who made heaven and earth, and thus barely restrained them (Acts 14:13-18). Sometime after, the Jews from Pisidian Antioch and Iconium showed up in Lystra and stirred up a mob that stoned Paul and left him for dead outside the city (Acts 14:19). However, as the disciples gathered around him, Paul rose up and the next day he was able to go to Derbe before retracing their steps back through the very same cities he was previously chased out of: Lystra, Iconium, and Pisidian Antioch, encouraging the saints and ordaining elders in every church (Acts 14:20-23). Returning to the region of Pamphylia by the sea, they sailed back to Antioch where they had begun their journey, and told the saints all that God had done, particularly for the Gentiles, and remained there for some time (Acts 14:24-28).

GODS IN HUMAN FORM?

It might seem strange or surprising that the people of Lystra see the healed man and immediately assumed that Paul and Barnabas are Jupiter and Mercury. But it is likely that they knew the legend of Baucis and Philemon told by Ovid in his Metamorphoses, the story of the time Jupiter and Mercury came down in the form of two ordinary men and were refused hospitality until a poor, kindly couple took them in and fed them. The gods sent a flood to punish the Phrygian valley (not far from Lycaonia), and only the poor couple escaped to a mountain. The couple’s hut was spared and transformed into a glorious temple to Jupiter. The couple were made priests of the temple, and by their wish, later died at the same time, and turned into an oak and linden tree, where it became customary to lay garlands in their honor.

Whether driven by true fear/piety or a mercenary opportunism, the priest of Jupiter and the people at least had a story to point to when they came with their oxen and garlands to offer sacrifice to Paul and Barnabas (Acts 14:13). Of course the apostles object to being worshipped, but notice that they don’t contradict the cosmology. They don’t argue that no other supernatural beings exist or that they certainly could not appear as men. They do call that worship “vain/worthless” (Acts 14:15) and clearly call them to turn and worship the living God, the Creator of heaven and earth and Giver of all good gifts (Acts 14:15-17). It’s striking that we have our own “true myth” of the time two angels came to a city and were mistreated before receiving hospitality by the only faithful house, and only that family escaped to a mountain before judgment came upon that valley (Gen. 19). Furthermore, Daniel describes Michael and other angelic beings fighting with the angelic “princes” of Persia and Greece (Dan. 10:13, 20). Perhaps Jupiter and Mercury were real, fallen angelic “gods” that occasionally had shown up as men, and perhaps some good angels had prepared those cultures for the coming of the gospel.

SEVERAL OPEN DOORS

God tells His story in our lives and in history in order to prepare the way for His purposes. We see this in the healing of the lame man which is very similar to the beginning of Acts: “a certain man lame from his mother’s womb, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple” (Acts 3:2). Both of these healings erupt in significant responses for the spread of the gospel. While sin sometimes is the cause of poor health, often, as in the story of the man born blind, God assigns tribulation in order “that the works of God should be made manifest” (Jn. 9:3). What no doubt looked and felt like a brick wall for these men, was God’s door. Check for sin, but look for God.

Both men “leap up” when they are healed, and here in Acts 14, they seem to be near the gate of the temple of Jupiter (Acts 14:13). The parallels seem to confirm Paul’s ministry to the Gentiles (as akin to Peter’s ministry), but it also suggests that the pagan temples (despite all the paganism) had their own role to play in preparing for the gospel, as God gave them good gifts, rain, fruitful seasons, and food and gladness (Acts 14:17). They wrongly attributed these gifts to false gods, but the gifts were preparing them to meet the Giver: another open door.

When the Jews from Iconium and Antioch show up and stone Paul, this echoes the earlier murder of Stephen, which Paul had overseen (Acts 7:58). Surely, this was not lost on Paul. Not only is it miraculous that Paul survived, but then he rose up, went into the city, and was able to depart the next day for Derbe (Acts 14:20). What is also astonishing is the fact that he then turned around and retraced his steps through those same cities (Acts 14:21). It seems likely that Paul still had marks on his body as he encouraged the saints to continue in the faith, insisting that they must enter the kingdom through many tribulations (Acts 14:22). What was meant for evil, Paul immediately saw God working for good. Paul saw an open door.

APPLICATIONS

Almost everyone has some sense that nothing happens by accident. Even unbelievers will say things like that. But we really need to learn to turn it around: everything happens on purpose and this means that everything is sovereignly administered by the Triune God for our good (Eph. 1:11, Rom. 8:28). We need to learn to say about everything, “this is so I can go to heaven.”

The exhaustive sovereignty of God means that absolutely everything (every detail) has been prepared for us, and all of it is to prepare us for what is next and ultimately for the Kingdom itself, through many tribulations. Faith sees absolutely everything as an open door because Jesus is risen from the dead.

Leaving Vengeance & Loving Justice (Troy)

Christ Church on November 5, 2023

INTRODUCTION

For far too long the Christian Church has been passive and apathetic, watching freedom and justice slip away from our land, but how does our Lord’s teaching about enemies and justice apply to us? Whether we are thinking about the way pagans are seeking to destroy our Christian culture, or international conflict in the Middle East or Europe, or interpersonal conflict you may have in your family, what does Jesus mean and how does this teaching apply?

The Text: “Ye have heard that it hath been said, ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth’: but I say unto you, that ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also. And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain. Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away.”

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

Jesus quotes from the criminal law of Israel “eye for an eye” (Ex. 21:24, Lev. 24:20, Dt. 19:21), having just recently affirmed the ongoing validity of the law (Mt. 5:17-20), and He says that this criminal justice is not to be applied by individual persons as acts of vengeance. Rather, our personal disposition is to be patient and forbearing (Mt. 5:39). This includes when we are sued and taken to court and the judge allows our goods to plundered (Mt. 5:40). Given the nature of man and the tendency of courts to be corrupted, we should be fully prepared to surrender not only our hats, but also our coats (Mt. 5:40). Likewise, under foreign occupation, you may be compelled and commandeered like slaves, and we should be prepared to go the extra mile (Mt. 5:41). Our personal disposition is to be thoroughly and sacrificially generous to all (Mt. 5:42).

PRINCIPLES OF JUSTICE

Jesus is not setting aside this central principle of justice that requires magistrates to repay evil equitably. We know this because elsewhere magistrates are still required to uphold justice (Rom. 13:4), God executes justice by “repaying” evil (Rom. 12:19), and Jesus Himself says in the judgment He will repay each person according to what he has done (Mt. 16:27, Rev. 22:12). “Eye for eye” is known as the lex talionis, the law of exact retribution or literally “the law of such a nature.” The lex talionis itself was meant to require careful calculation and prohibit punishments driven by vengeance. When someone takes out your eye, your flesh wants to take off their head. Capital punishment is an example of “life for life,” and restitution for lost, damaged, or stolen goods would be another (Ex. 22:1-4). Zacchaeus honored this principle when he restored four-fold for his tax-thieving (Lk. 19:8). What Jesus prohibits here is using criminal justice as a justification for personal vengeance (Mt. 5:39). While not setting aside true justice, we must be willing to endure mistreatment.

LEAVE VENGEANCE FOR THE COPS

Paul makes the same point in Romans 12 where he says not to repay any man evil for evil (Rom. 12:17), pursue peace with all men (Rom. 12:18), leave vengeance for the Lord to repay (Rom. 12:19), and do personal good to enemies (Rom. 12:20), overcoming evil with good (Rom. 12:21). Immediately after that, it says that the civil magistrate is the power ordained by God to minister God’s vengeance and wrath on evildoers (Rom. 13:4). This means if you caught a thief breaking and entering, you could call the cops, give him a glass of water while you wait, and then press charges. Likewise, we should note that Jesus does not forbid arguing our case before magistrates (Mt. 5:40), as we see Paul doing elsewhere (cf. Acts 25-26); rather, He forbids us from angrily refusing to be defrauded if the case goes against us (Mt. 5:40). And sometimes it’s better to be defrauded even before the case goes to court (1 Cor. 6:7).

TYRANNY, SLAVERY, AND FREEDOM

Sometimes living in slavery and under tyranny is necessary, and sometimes rebellion and revolution is worse than slavery (Mt. 17:24-27). But the Bible broadly teaches that the goal of thriving societies is freedom which means using all the gifts and powers God has given us to their greatest potential (Lk. 4:16-19). If we can get our freedom, we should try, but if we can’t, we should live as the Lord’s freemen as much as possible (1 Cor. 7:21-22). Seeking to serve our masters as Christ is not apathy, since we all have a Master in Heaven who judges justly (Eph. 6:5-9, 1 Pet. 2:18-23). Christ submitted to the greatest injustice in history, and God saw and vindicated Him in the resurrection. Patiently doing good invites God’s vindication and blessing, and it puts us in a position to see most clearly what we can do now. The wrath of man does not work the righteousness of God (Js. 1:20).

APPLICATIONS

The central point is that personal grudges and angst are the origin of all evil tyranny. And you can’t fight fire with fire. Returning evil for evil is not justice but flailing injustice. Grudges and feuds drive every revolutionary mob, and those mobs always end up destroying themselves.

Nothing here forbids Christians from exercising biblical justice in their assigned offices. Nothing here forbids Christians from practicing self-defense or just war or seeking the preservation and restoration of freedom and property. In fact, what Jesus says assumes the legitimacy of all those things. We are to overcome evil with good. Good what? Good families, good marriages, good hospitality, good business, good art, good churches, good neighborhoods, and good civil governments. The point is that you cannot achieve a truly just and prosperous society with rage and bitterness in your heart. Faithful parents need to practice this all day long (Gal. 6:1).

All earthly, human justice is at best an approximation. If you demand perfect justice in this world, you will be constantly disappointed and angry. This why the Cross of Jesus Christ is the only fully perfect display of justice in the history of the world. In it the justice of God was displayed from faith to faith (Rom. 1:17). This means it is received by faith and lived out by faith.

The just live by faith, both because we are justified by faith from all of our own sins and that gives us great peace and patience but also because this faith in the justice of God is what allows us to work for true justice in this world now while resting in God’s perfect timing to work it all out. This kind of faith allows us to leave vengeance to the Lord, do good to our enemies, and build something truly better.

What Conquest Looks Like (The Continuing Adventures of Jesus #22) (King’s Cross)

Christ Church on October 22, 2023

INTRODUCTION

God’s way of conquest is not what we would have thought up. One of His central plays is provoking people to jealousy through His extravagant blessings. Sometimes this provocation turns angry and violent, but ultimately, the plan is for the ends of the earth to be saved.

The Text: “And the next sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God. But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy, and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming…” (Acts 13:44-14:7).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

The following sabbath, Paul preached again in Antioch of Pisidia, and almost the whole city came to hear (Acts 13:44). Filled with envy at Paul’s influence, the Jews began contradicting and blaspheming the gospel (Acts 13:45). When Paul quoted Isaiah 49, prophesying that the gospel would go to the Gentiles if the Jews rejected it, the Gentiles rejoiced and many were converted (Acts 13:46-48). So the Word of the Lord multiplied, and the Jews stirred up persecution from prominent folks (Acts 13:49-50). While the apostles testified against the Jews in this, all the disciples were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit (Acts 13:51-52).

Coming to Iconium, multitudes gather in the synagogue, and once more, some Jews and Greeks believe, but the unbelieving Jews stir up controversy and plots against Paul and Barnabas, dividing the city (Acts 14:1-4). This took place over many days, but when a plot was uncovered to murder them, they fled to Lystra and Derbe, and continued preaching there (Acts 14:5-7).

PROVOKED TO ENVY

In both episodes, the gospel goes first to the Jews gathered in their synagogues and while some believe, the majority is filled with envy and stirs up controversy, trouble, and violence (Acts 13:43-45, 50, 14:2, 5). It was envy that caused the Jewish rulers to hand Jesus over to Pilate to be crucified (Mt. 27:18, Mk. 15:10), and envy had already been driving the persecution of the Jews in Jerusalem (Acts 5:17). Moses prophesied this: “I will provoke you to jealousy by them that are no people, and by a foolish nation I will anger you” (Dt. 32:21), and Paul quotes that verse in Romans 10:19 to explain God’s plan to save the world: “Have they [the Jews] stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy [envy]. Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fullness?” (Rom. 11:11-12) So provoking envy (particularly from the Jews) has always been part of the plan of salvation. This is also why there have been many in the Reformed tradition who prayed and worked for the conversion of the Jews. While some consider the salvation of the Jews to be merely a trickle over history, Paul seems to have something far bigger in mind (Rom. 11:15).

WHAT IS ISRAEL/JUDAISM TODAY?

As it happens, there’s a lot in the news about Israel right now and many Christians believe that these are signs of the end times. Some Christians believe that God has continued His covenant with the Jews, and through a misunderstanding of a prophecy in Daniel, believe that when the Jews rebuild the temple and reestablish sacrifices, Jesus will return. But Jesus is the Messiah of Israel, the seed of David, and true Israel, true Jews are those who trust in Jesus Christ (Phil. 3:3). Any return to blood sacrifices is blasphemy, and there is nothing uniquely holy about the land of Israel anymore, since Jesus has claimed the whole world for His people and given us His Spirit.

Nevertheless, to the extent that a nation/people continue to study the Old Testament (with veils over their hearts, 2 Cor. 3:14-15), you have a people with greater light, more obligation to believe in Jesus Christ, and often both the blessings and curses that come with that light and rejection of it. If you want a category for this, we can call it the covenant with Hagar (Gal. 4:24-25). This is why Jewish people have often been highly functioning people in society, for good and for ill, and why they have been so often hated. The modern nation-state of Israel has no unique role in the Kingdom of God, other than as a relatively similar worldview and prime candidates for conversion and the opportunity for gospel ministry in the Middle East. Otherwise, Christians should apply biblical principles of justice and prudence to their conflicts.

APPLICATIONS

In both of these episodes, the envy of the Jews stirs up trouble and controversy, and the gospel goes forth and many believe (Acts 13:49, 14:3, 7). This is God’s way. Notice that this includes even stirring up otherwise noble and devout leaders (Acts 13:50). This should give us compassion for folks who get stirred up by baseless accusations and attacks: not all our enemies understand what is driving them. God has been patient with us; we must patiently bear with weaknesses and misunderstandings, even from those we think really ought to know better.

The word for envy is sometimes translated “zeal,” and zeal can be good or bad. It was “zeal” that filled Jesus when He cleansed the temple (Jn. 2:17), and Paul labored for the Corinthians with a godly zeal or jealousy (2 Cor. 11:2). Christians should be zealous for the gifts of the Spirit (1 Cor. 12:31/14:1ff), repentance (2 Cor. 7:7-11, Rev. 3:19), and for good works (Gal. 4:18, Tit. 2:14). But zeal has a way of becoming intensely self-righteous, while claiming a moral high ground: Paul’s zeal led him to persecute the church (Phil. 3:6) and so zeal/envy is often also accompanied by strife, wrath, and violence (Js. 3:14-4:2, Gal. 5:20, 1 Cor. 3:3).

So how can we know the difference between ungodly zeal/envy and godly zeal? How do you respond to the blessing of God on others? How do you respond to the success, excellence, and material blessing of others? Are you critical? Do you resent it? Or does it drive you to seek excellence? God’s blessing creates competing cycles of imitative envy or imitative excellence. Paul preached the gospel to provoke the emulation of the Jews (Rom. 11:14), and godly zeal seeks to “outdo one another in showing honor” (Rom. 12:10 ESV). Our goal should be such excellence in our work, such honesty, such blessing on our homes and nations, that many see our good works and glorify our Father in Heaven, especially unbelieving Jews (Mt. 5:16).

And we need to be fully prepared that as we do this, many will be provoked to wrath, but the central sign that this is the work of God will be a dominant tone of joy: “And the disciples were filled with joy, and with the Holy Ghost” (Acts 13:52).

The Sure Mercies of David (The Continuing Adventures of Jesus #21) (King’s Cross)

Christ Church on October 8, 2023

INTRODUCTION

We commonly sing and repeat that glorious refrain from Psalm 136 (and others) that the mercies of the Lord endure forever, and this is certainly true in a general way. But as we see here in Paul’s first recorded sermon, there is a particular meaning of that phrase and application in the covenant that God made with King David that was fulfilled in Jesus Christ and all who believe in Him. In other words, there’s a specific reason why David sung about it so much.

The Text: “But when they departed from Perga, they came to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and sat down. And after reading of the law and the prophets the rulers of the synagogue sent unto them…” (Acts 13:14-43).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

Attending a sabbath service in Antioch of Pisidia (in the middle of modern day Turkey), Paul is invited to preach (Acts 13:14-16). Beginning with the Exodus, Paul narrates the conquest of Canaan through the beginning of the Kingdom under Saul up to the covenant with David (Acts 13:17-22). From that Davidic promise, Paul preached Christ, the seed of David, from John’s baptism to His false conviction and crucifixion under Pilate, His burial, and His resurrection (Acts 13:23-31). Paul declares this good news and says that the resurrection in particular fulfills what was foretold in Psalm 2, Isaiah 55:3, and Psalm 16 (Acts 13:32-37). Forgiveness of sins and justification by faith is preached, with a warning to the Jews not to despise the message, as the prophet Habakkuk warned (Acts 13:38-41, cf. Hab. 1:5). And the response was many Gentiles requesting that Paul and Barnabas come and teach again the next sabbath and many began following them (Acts 13:42-43).

HISTORICAL FAITH

One of the striking elements of Christian Scripture and our faith is its essential historicity. The central tenants of the Christian faith are historical narrative: God created the world in six days, Adam sinned by eating fruit, Abraham built altars in Canaan, Israel was rescued from Egypt, judges delivered, kings ruled, prophets proclaimed, Christ was born, lived, crucified, buried, raised, and ascended. As we see here (Acts 13:17-31), the Christian faith is grounded in historical facts, events that you could have photographed, and there is no way to strip away the history and retain the faith.

But many have attempted (and continue to attempt) to claim that Christianity is primarily a spiritual relationship or experience, and that the history is the “shell” that holds the essential kernel of “religious” feelings and experience. The claim is that so long as you have that experience or feelings, the historical details and doctrines don’t matter very much. But this is patently false: “If Christ be not risen, then is our preaching in vain, and your faith is also vain… and ye are yet in your sins” (1 Cor. 15:14, 17). Why does it matter that we believe that God created the Heavens and the Earth in six twenty-four days? Because that is what Genesis 1 clearly teaches, but the vaguer our certainty of this history, the vaguer our certainty of salvation. If Genesis 1 doesn’t mean what it says, why not the Exodus? Why not the Resurrection?

THE SURE MERCIES OF DAVID

The center of Paul’s message is this notion of the “sure mercies of David” (Acts 13:34). This “sure mercy” encompasses the selection of young David as king after Saul, a man after God’s own heart who would fulfill all of God’s will (Acts 13:22) as well as the covenant that God swore to David concerning his seed: “Of this man’s seed hath God according to his promise raised unto Israel a Savior Jesus” (Acts 13:23). This is referring to when God say to David, “I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build an house for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom forever… but my mercy shall not depart away from him, as I took it from Saul… thy throne shall be established forever” (2 Sam. 7:12-16 cf. 1 Chron. 17:11-14). This promise became a theme: “He is the tower of salvation for his king: and sheweth mercy to his anointed, unto David, and to his seed forevermore” (2 Sam. 22:51). And Solomon appealed to God on the basis of the “mercies of David” (2 Chron. 1:8) and it filled the praises of Israel – His mercies endure forever (1 Chron. 16:34, 41, 2 Chron. 7:6, cf. Ps. 18:50, 89:1, 106:1, 107:1, 117:2, 118:1-4, 29, and Ps. 136).

And thus the prophets foretold the fulfillment of that promise in the face of Israelite decline: “Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David” (Is. 55:3). And it becomes the prayer of many in Israel that Jesus, the “Son of David” would have mercy upon them (e.g. Mt. 9:27, 15:22, 20:30-31).

APPLICATIONS

It is on the basis of the sure mercies of David, that God sent His only Son, the seed of David, into the world, to accomplish the forgiveness of sins and justification by faith for all His people. David was himself the great example these things: colossal sins and failures forgiven and justified by faith – a man after God’s own heart (Acts 13:22). And Jesus is the fulfillment: the One who fulfilled all of God’s will and who therefore cannot see corruption, who sits on David’s throne forever.

Specifically, it says, “justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses” (Acts 13:39). The law is good, but it cannot justify. And to the extent that people try to get it to justify them, it only exacerbates our sin. But God freely justifies sinful people in order that they may keep the law by the power of the Spirit (Rom. 8:1-5). And this is only possible by evangelical faith.