New Testament Archives - Page 164 of 208

Ephesians: Rooted

Joe Harby on March 8, 2015

For This Reason (v. 14-16)

Paul is entering into a conclusion for the first half of the book of Ephesians. The preceding three chapters have taught us about the new family to which we, through the Son, now belong. And Paul concludes form this that we ought to be doing two things. The first is that we ought to be worshipping God. The second is that we ought to receive the strengthening of the inner man from the Holy Spirit.

Rooted (v. 16-17)

Now Paul expands on the nature of this strengthening. First, we must constantly remind ourselves that the strengthening of the inner man is revealed in a way that only the eye of faith will see (2 Cor. 4:16-18). Second, we should note that this is a gift from God, not something that we strive to create in ourselves. Third, we should realize what the revelation of God’s glory looks like. The fear is always that God’s concern for his glory makes him a self-centered megalomaniac. But, here we see that God’s glory is revealed in his goodness to us.

That You Might Know (v. 18-19)

The aim of giving this gift is to see us have two things – a knowledge of what it is that God has done for us and, by that knowledge, a deep confidence in our salvation. God desires that we have confidence that establishes us like a try rooted deep into the earth and able to withstand great storms.

This is what happens when you meditate on God’s word daily as the man in Psalm 1 does. You become rooted, established, founded, convinced. Your meditating on the promises of God is a chance for God to argue daily your doubts out of you.

Glory (v. 20-21)

All of this is the work of God, “. . . to him who is able to do.” He is the power that works in us. This has all been a description of the work which God works. So what is left for us to do? We worship.

The Politics of Sodomy III: Has It Come to That?

Joe Harby on March 1, 2015

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Introduction

Often we confront problems in our individual lives, or in our families, and after we have exhausted all the possibilities in our hunt for a solution, we ask others to pray for us. “Oh,” some might be tempted to think. “Has it come to that?” We must learn to begin where we are sometimes tempted to end.

The Text

“For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” (2 Cor. 10:3-5).

Summary of the Text

We walk in the flesh, Paul says. We have bodies. But our warfare is not pursued after the flesh (v. 3). We do not war after the flesh. The reason for this is that our weapons are not carnal (sarkikos, fleshly), but rather are mighty through God in the pulling down of strongholds (v. 4). Empowered by God in this way, our weapons are capable of accomplishing three things. First, they cast down imaginations. Second, they cast down every high thing that sets itself up against the knowledge of God. And third, our weapons capture every thought in order to make them obedient to Christ (v. 5). They cast down, they cast down, they capture.

A Quick Review

We have learned thus far that our cultural degradation is following the pattern described in the Scriptures, and it is following that pattern exactly. We have refused to honor God as God, and refused to give Him thanks. Therefore, the wrath of God is being exhibited against us. The end result of this is necessarily sodomy in the public square. We have also learned that there is no neutrality in the war between light and darkness. Either one is with Christ or one is against Him. You must either gather or scatter. But one of the devices noted for evading the total claims of Christ was the device of creating a two-tier universe, spiritual and material. We then crown Jesus the Lord of all that is spiritual, and think we have given Him great glory. But this is disobedience, and we come now to see how this skews a right understanding of the text before us this morning.

What is Carnal?

In the grip of unbiblical assumptions, we tend to think that spiritual means ethereal, rather thanequipped and empowered by the Spirit. And we think that unspiritual means physical, instead ofdisobedient to the Spirit. Now there is a divide, right down the middle of human history, but it is not a divide between physical and ethereal. It is the divide between Spirit-empowered obedience and Spirit-resistant disobedience. The divide is ethical. Now test yourself. When Paul says here that our weapons are not carnal, what do we immediately tend to think? We translate this to “not physical” and we retreat further into our gnostic fortress.

But what does the Bible tell us? “And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets: who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens” (Heb. 11: 32-34). The point here is not one of shallow triumphalism; we read in the same context of those who were martyred and (in the eyes of some) defeated, and they also lived by faith. They also died very physical deaths. Faith always has an incarnate form.

King David was one of those who, according to this passage, turned the armies of aliens to flight. And he gives the glory to God. “Blessed be the LORD my strength, which teacheth my hands to war,and my fingers to fight” (Ps. 144:1). This means that David’s weapons were not carnal either. He did what he did through faith. Physicality is inescapable—it is not whether, but which. And when you have selected your physical weapon, the question of faith is before you. Will you be carnal or not?

Some Men Trust in Chariots

“Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our God” (Ps. 20:7). The issue is trust—David, who wrote this psalm, did not go out on to the battle field to perform the martial arts equivalent of air guitar. He had material weapons, just as his enemies did. But he had faith in God and they did not.

But because we are so prone to place our trust in the means God has provided (which is idolatry), there are times when God requires an amputation. The rich young ruler is told to give away his wealth (Mk. 10:21)—but his life after doing so would have been just as material as it was before. He was told to give away money, not to evaporate. Jehoshaphat decided to send the choir out in the vanguard of the army (2 Chron. 20:21), but the choir was every bit as physical as the army was.

Remember the Name of the Lord

Now the question before us is not whether we will oppose the current corruption, or whether we will use physical means in order to oppose the advancing politics of Sodom. We are material creatures; we must do so. Our worship here is just as physical as writing our congressman. And moreover, the one to whom we pray is not on the take.

Why do we not throw ourselves into what is called “activism?” Our view is that American Christians are idolatrously addicted to politics—and not as ordinary means which they by faith ask the triune God to bless. Rather, our approach to politics as a secular activity positively excludes the Lord Jesus Christ—and this is normal for most activist Christians. We test for this idolatry by noting how our potent opposition is interpreted by Christians. “But you are doing nothing!” Worship and prayer are treated as though they were the civil equivalent of a Hail Mary pass.

The call is to worship God through Christ. But in order to do this rightly, the Baals must come down first. What might that mean in our modern circumstance? Our modern form of disobedience is the secularist Mammon State. What would happen in a particular community if the public schools had to close because of all the Christians choosing the various forms of Christian education? Right—there would be a very physical confrontation, but it would be for very spiritual reasons.

What would happen if North Korea and Saudi Arabia allowed complete freedom of worship? Anybody could attend church or Bible study as they desired, with no repercussions. With no guns, no armies, no legislation, their regimes would not last a year. They know something that many Christians in the West do not.

Gospel First and Last

Joe Harby on February 22, 2015

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The Text

“Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;

²By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.

³For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;

⁴And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:

⁵And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve:

⁶After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.

⁷After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles.

⁸And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.

⁹For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.

¹⁰But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.

¹¹Therefore whether it were I or they, so we preach, and so ye believed” (1 Corinthians 15:1-11).

Mission, Vocation, and Body Life

Joe Harby on February 15, 2015

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Introduction

As you have heard here before, mission is not something the church does on the side. Mission is at the heart of what the church is. And so, outreach, mission, evangelism, church planting all amount to the same thing. In this fallen world, the church should be about two things—birth and growth, and mission encompasses both of these. This is what Christ told the church to do in the Great Commission. Mission is why we are still here. But we need to be careful with this emphasis because there are some pitfalls.

The Text

“If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him. And if they were all one member, where were the body? But now are they many members, yet but one body” (1 Cor. 12:17–20).

Summary of the Text

The apostle Paul is discussing spiritual gifts, and in this section is describing what it means to be a member of the body. His use of member is taken as an illustration from the human body, and this means we shall have to think carefully about what it means to have something in common, including having a particular mission in common. If the entire body were an eyeball, then how could we hear (v. 17)? If the entire body were an ear, how could we smell (v. 17)? But God, instead of doing this sort of thing, has placed a number of different members into one body, according to his own good pleasure (v. 18). And, at first glance, it appears that an ear, an ankle, a liver, and a fingertip have very little in common. God did this because He has a higher unity in mind. If we had one big ear only, we would have no body (v. 19), and nothing would get done. In God’s wisdom, we can have multiple disparate parts, and yet have them all working together . . . on a mission (v. 20). But as mentioned earlier, we have to be careful because hand/eye coordination is not as easy as it looks.

Apparent Unity, Deep Unity

A policeman’s eyes and the eyes of the criminal he is chasing can have a great deal in common. They can both be blue, for example. They can both be nearsighted to the same extent, requiring the same prescription. They might go to the same optometrist. And the policeman’s eyes and the policeman’s heart apparently don’t have anything in common— except for the fact that they share the same vocation, the same calling, the same mission, which right now is that of chasing the criminal with the blue eyes. Both the heart and the eyes are doing their part to help catch the criminal. The eyes of the policeman are not thinking about their shared solidarity with the blue eyes of the criminal. But if we were giving a test to third graders, we might have a picture of the policeman’s right eye, the criminal’s left eye, and the policeman’s heart. What would happen if we told the kids to circle the two items that had the most in common? Right. A mistake would happen.

Another Illustration

Think of a submarine at war, with an assigned mission to seek out and sink ships in an enemy convoy. On that submarine you will find sailors who are part of the fire control team directly—the torpedo gang, say, and you will find sailors who are not a direct part of that team—the cook, say.

How does the cook advance the mission of the submarine? He does it by doing the best job that he can at his assigned post. He does it by cooking eggs. At the same time, he is not permitted to be uninterested in the mission of the submarine as a whole. He cannot detach his interests as though they were identical to his job description—as though he were somehow separate from the rest of the crew. He is part of the mission and must share an interest in that mission.

And yet, at the same time, he is not permitted to be so interested in what is going on in the torpedo room that he winds up being a bad cook. That’s no help either. If someone is called to a vocation—then the first thing to do is to be excellent at that calling. If your job is sweeping out a warehouse, and you spend your time leaning on the broom telling everyone else about Jesus, then what you are doing is stealing in the name of Jesus. Doing a poor job in the name of Jesus is a refusal to talk about Jesus honestly.

The two extremes are these: there are evangelism zealots who want every sailor to be part of the torpedo gang. And there are quiet, stay-at-home types who want to cook eggs and never, ever think about the war.

Yes and No

Should all Christians be prepared to share the message of the gospel to those who might ask? Yes, of course. In an exhortation that applies to all Christians, Peter says this: “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear” (1 Pet. 3:15).

At the same time, should every Christian be an evangelist? At the end of our chapter, Paul asks a series of rhetorical questions about various gifts. The implied answer to these rhetorical questions is no. Is everyone an apostle? How about a prophet? Is everyone a teacher? No. Now the gift of evangelism is not mentioned here, but it is included in similar lists of gifts elsewhere (Eph. 4:11), and the body life argument applies. Paul and Barnabas were both missionaries, even though Paul did the bulk of the speaking.

So “evangelism proper” is not something that every part of the body shares in common. We all must have in common a love for God, a love for our neighbor, a dependence upon God’s word, a liberty in prayer, etc. This is what every member in the body should have, provided it is alive and healthy. But the ear doesn’t have to see. The elbow doesn’t have to hear.

At the same time, the elbow has to be interested in what the eye is seeing. The eye has to be interested in what the elbow is doing. This is because the eye and ear are not seeing and hearing for themselves alone. They are performing their functions on behalf of the whole body.

How do you show interest? Every part of the body is to pray for evangelism. Every part of the body participates in the energy. You can pray, and you can give. You can ask questions about how it went. And of course, the reason we want this body to function smoothly in this way is because it is the body of Christ.

Surveying the Text: Ecclesiastes

Joe Harby on February 8, 2015

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Introduction

Most cheerfulness in the world is superficial and shallow. Much deep thinking is melancholy. This great Hebrew philosopher calls us to joy—but joy which thinks deeply. Our word profound comes from the Latin profundus, which means deep, and so we are invited to profound joy, not joy that skims along the surface of things. He calls us to meditation, but to a meditation which does not despair. Only believers can enjoy the vanity.

The Text

“The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity” (Ecc. 1:1–2).

Solomonic Authorship

The author never calls himself Solomon by name, but rather Qoheleth. This means “gatherer,” “assembler,” or “preacher.” Nevertheless, Qoheleth identifies himself here as a son of David, and as a king in Jerusalem. Without entering into a detailed description of the debate, I can see no good reason not to attribute the book to Solomon. The book certainly fits the pattern of Solomon’s life.

Solomon was given great wisdom by the Lord, but nevertheless fell into great and enormous sins. In his apostasy, he introduced the idolatry of some of his foreign wives into Israel. This book was written in his old age, as a repentant rejection of his previous declension and apostasy.

Unlike the liberal, we should assume a single voice throughout the text. Unlike the pietist, we should reject the temptation to accept the edifying passages and skim over the apparently “difficult” ones. And unlike the heretic, we should reject an elevation of the “difficult” texts at the expense of the pervasive orthodoxy of the book.

Summary of the Text

Ecclesiastes has four basic sections, or divisions. The first division is found in Ecclesiastes 1:2-2:26—Solomon’s experience shows that satisfaction cannot come from anything within man’s grasp or power. The second division is contained in Ecclesiastes 3:1-5:20: God is sovereign over everything; Solomon answers objections to the doctrine, and as you should know, it is a doctrine that engenders objections. Objections grow on this doctrine, like flowers in a meadow in the springtime. The third section is Ecclesiastes 6:1-8:15. Solomon applies his doctrine that the sovereign God alone gives the power to enjoy vanity. Without Him, without this power, the world is nothing but vexation of spirit. And the last division is Ecclesiastes 8:16-12:14. This last section removes various obstacles and discouragements, and addresses numerous practical concerns.

The Two Great Refrains of the Book

Instead of viewing the book as a series of disjointed and sometimes contradictory statements, we must first look for those themes which integrate all the teaching of the entire book. Two great refrains are:

Under the Sun—this phrase occurs numerous times, and is extremely significant. “Under the sun” is the realm where vanity reigns. This is not the vanity of philosophical nihilism, but rather the vanity of endless recurring cycles. Just the way it is.

Consider what occurs “under the sun.” Work has no profit (1:3; 2:11; 2:22); nothing is new (1:9); everything is vain (1:14; 4:7); work is distressing (2:17); labor is hateful because someone else gets the fruit (2:18); a fool might receive the benefit of the work (2:19, 20); church and state are corrupt (3:16); men are oppressed (4:1); the unborn are at an advantage (4:3); popularity is in constant flux (4:15); riches destroy their owners (5:13); the wealthy are unable to enjoy their wealth (6:1); future generations are unknowable (6:12); men rule others and destroy themselves (8:9); work is incomprehensible (8:17) both good and evil men die alike (9:3); our emotions perish with us (9:6); time and chance happen to us all (9:11); ungrateful men despise the benefits of wisdom (9:13); and rulers establish egalitarianism (10:5).

The Great Gift of God—Under the sun, vanity is God’s scepter (5:18; 8:15; 9:9). For those who fear Him, God gives the gift of being able to enjoy the futility. This is the gift of God. Notice how this point is hammered home, again and again.

“Nothing is better . . .” (2:24);
“I know that nothing is better. . .” (3:12-13);
“So I perceived that nothing is better. . .” (3:22);
“Here is what I have seen: It is good and fitting. . .” (5:18-19); “So I commended enjoyment . . .” (8:15);
“Go, eat your bread with joy. . .” (9:7-9).

All these things are done by those who fear God under the sun, just as the miserable labor under the sun. But the distinction, as always, is found in the sovereignty and grace of God.

Eat Your Peaches

God frequently gives men many external blessings without giving them the spiritual taste buds to enjoy them. This is a sore affliction from the Lord. We see a man without taste buds who can afford the finest of restaurants. We see an impotent man married to a beautiful woman. Guard your hearts. Don’t envy them. Don’t want to become like them. The people you envy are frequently the most miserable people on the face of the planet. It would have been better for them to have never been born.

The blessings of this life—and there are many of them—are like cans of peaches. To His beloved, God gives them both the can and the can opener. To the others, He gives just the cans. What does it profit a man to have the whole world but with no ability to taste? Who is wealthier? The man with one can of peaches and a can opener, or a man with a thousand cans of peaches and no can opener? Without Christ, the most a rich man can do is lick the label, trying to get some kind of taste from the glue.

We live in the same world of vain repetitions as do the non-believers. Our dishes get dirty again, our lawns need to be mowed again, our lives cycle around as do theirs. The rain falls on our heads too. But their vanity, their shepherding of the wind, becomes—because of unbelief—what we might call philosophical or nihilistic vanity. Our vanity, our experience of the very same things, becomes a wild ride, the best you will ever have. Nothing is better. This understanding of Ecclesiastes is the foundational precondition of all contentment.

So eat your bread, drink wine, and rejoice. Work hard. God has already accepted you. He has already accepted your works, which He has done in the perfect work of Jesus Christ. Believe the gospel as it is preached and declared. This truly is the gift of God.