New Testament Archives - Page 180 of 205

Pentecostal Authority

Joe Harby on June 12, 2011

Introduction

The Jewish festival of Pentecost is now famously connected to the sign gifts that were poured out on this day— gifts of tongues, and prophecy, and the like. We get the denominational name of Pentecostal from this day, and so one of the things we should learn as we mark this day is how that day should be understood in the history of the Church. This means also guarding against how it can be misunderstood.

The Texts

“In the law it is written, With men of other tongues and other lips will I speak unto this people; and yet for all that will they not hear me, saith the Lord. Wherefore tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not: but prophesying serveth not for them that believe not, but for them which believe” (1 Cor. 14:21-22).

“Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds” (2 Cor. 12:12).

Summary of the Text

The outpouring of gifts on the day of Pentecost was a historical mile-marker, and was specially designated as a sign to unbelieving Jews. Paul says that tongues are a sign for unbelievers, and because of the passage he cites from Isaiah 28:11-12, we can see that he means unbelieving Jews. With men of other tongues God says that He will speak to this people. Despite this clear indication and sign, they will continue on in their unbelief. Now this is exactly what happened on the day of Pentecost, in the streets of a Jerusalem that (within a generation) was going to be filled with armies speaking other tongues—like speaking German in Paris, or English in Baghdad. It is a sign of conquest and defeat, not of happy prayer times. The gift of tongues was given as a sign of an historical judgment falling upon Israel in a terrible way. In contrast, Paul argues, prophesy was intended to serve those within the Church.

In addition to this, we see that these gifts simpliciter were apostolic marks, meaning that those in possession of them had the authority of an apostle, meaning that in effect they could write Scripture.

Isaianic Background

An understanding of the 28th chapter of Isaiah is essential to understanding much of the New Testament. Isaiah rebukes the corrupts of Israel (Is. 28:1-8). But they do not receive it—who’s he trying to teach? Little kids? They mock him, and he replies that instead of sing-songy precepts they will finally hear gibberish, right before they are captured and “taken.”This is right before Isaiah introduces the cornerstone—the one the builders rejected.

Philip’s Daughters and the Uniqueness of Scripture

Whenever anyone says “thus saith the Lord,” that person must also be willing, in the next breath, to claim that the message he speaks belongs in the Scriptures, Vol. 2. The answer to this claim is often that Scripture speaks of the existence of prophecies that never made it into the Bible (Acts 21:9). And this is quite true—but God can dispense with His own words whenever He wants, and however He deems fit. We cannot be in possession of what we claim to be inspired words from God, and then throw them away. If we have them, and we believe them to be God’s words, then we must act accordingly. If prophesy proper is an extant gift, then it follows that the canon of Scripture is not closed. If the canon of Scripture is closed, then prophecy proper is not an extant gift.

Now I use the phrase “prophecy proper” because every preacher of the Word is called upon to prophesy in one sense, a lesser sense (1 Pet. 4:11). On account of this, the Puritans even called preaching “prophesying.” But this was sharply distinguished from what Jeremiah, Isaiah, or Agabus did. You should come to the sermon prepared to encounter the Word of God there, but without equating the sermon outline with Scripture. In short, what the neo- orthodox claim about the Scriptures, the Reformed claim for faithful evangelical preaching. This particular gift is not dependent, incidentally, on a preacher’s gifts or graces.

But God is Not Bound

We must distinguish between a sign gift of power, resident within someone, and answers to prayer. The fact that the sign gifts, authenticating the ministry of an apostle, have ceased, does not mean that the Holy Spirit has ceased, or gone out of the world. The choice is not between a lively Pentecostalism and a duddy non- Pentecostalism. Too often cessationists act like God died, and they are in charge of holding the ongoing memorial services. But we are not weeping for Tammuz.

A man with the gift of healing, for example, could walk through a hospital ward, and heal the people there, with power flowing out of him. And incidentally, if there were a man who could do that, we would all know his name. When the woman with the hemorrhage touched Him, the Lord felt the healing power go out from Him. This is different than when we intercede for the sick, and God answers the prayer. To deny that the first kind of thing still happens is not to say that the second happens rarely, if at all. These are two separate questions. Disbelief in false apostles should never translate over to unbelief in God.

So Guard Against Reductionism

The fact that we believe that the sign gifts have ceased does not mean that we hold that the universe functions in the way that the materialists believe that it does. We live and move and have our being in God, and spiritual realities surround us on every hand. The world is not a machine grinding away in accordance with natural laws. The universe is personally governed.

So the gift of prophecy (or tongues plus interpretation) is not a gift of spiritual utterance. It is a gift of guaranteed spiritual utterance. In other words, the fact that something is spiritual doesn’t make it true. The Bible is not our ultimate, infallible authority because it consists of spiritual words. It is our final and infallible authority because it represents the perfections of God Himself. The devil is a spirit, and can speak, and we have spirits, and we can speak spiritual words. Our words are not just the motion of atoms in the air, or the function of ink on a page. We do not surrender the nature of the world by guarding the true nature and boundaries of the Bible.

Gospel Intentionality

Joe Harby on May 8, 2011

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The Mission at Home

Evangelism begins at home. Paul argues in 1 Tim. 3:4-5 and Tit. 1:6 that the faithfulness of our own children is a prerequisite or foundation for any other teaching that we will do. This is true for individuals and it is true for churches on a corporate level. To certain extent, successful evangelism within families would make all other evangelism unnecessary.

A Post-Millenial Faith

But Scripture teaches that the Gospel is intended to spread to all nations. And in order for the Gospel to go to other nations, it must go to other families, to people other than our own children. Faithfulness to the Great Commission requires that we disciple people other than our own families. A rejection of this truth is what got the Jews of the first century into trouble. Judaizing was a rejection of a world-discipling Gospel. Therefore, while discipling our families and ordering our houses is critical. It is not the end. We as a church, need to be an evangelizing body. We are here to spread the Gospel. The gospel is a river that runs, not a marsh – backed up and in need of draining.

Evangelizing as a Body

To do this rightly, we must understand our role as a body (1 Cor. 12). Not all of us are called to act as the mouth. But when the mouth speaks, all the body is invested in what the mouth says. If the mouth goes talking trash to a biker gang on a Saturday night, the rest of the body is going to end up involved. So when a part of the body is evangelizing, the rest of the body is invested in that work.

Gospel Intentionality

Regardless of our individual giftings, we should learn to live with our minds and hearts set on discipling the nations – Gospel Intentionality. This begins with prayer. Look to expand your fellowship, where it is natural. Who has God put in front of you? Failing to understand that we minister as a body can place a lot of misguided pressure on saints within the church. We are not all gifted in the same ways. But we are all gifted to work together to the same end.

Evangelism as a Body

Strong families and a strong church do not have to be in tension with living evangelistically. These things not only qualify us to preach, they should actually be our greatest strength in evangelism. For instance, our world is characterized by father hunger. And we, of all the people on the Palouse, have fathers. Our world is homeless. And we have homes. Our world is hopeless. And we have hope. We don’t need to act that much different to proclaim the Gospel. We need to be ourselves, the body that God is making us into, in front of the world. This is Gospel intentionality.

The Principle Thing

Joe Harby on May 1, 2011

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The Text

“My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.” (James 1:2-8)

The Principle Thing

We begin first by a passage from Prov. 4:3-7. Solomon here describes an exhortation pressed on him by his father David when Solomon was a young man. “Wisdom is the principle thing. In all your getting, get wisdom.”When Solomon says “in all your getting” he knew what he was speaking of. He was a man who got everything (Ecc. 2). The point is as easy to trivialize as it is profound. You are here to get wisdom. That is the chief thing, the principle thing.

Christological Wisdom

And according to the James passage that we began with, wisdom is always right there for the taking (Jas. 1:5). Wisdom is near. Solomon emphasizes the nearness of wisdom as well (Prov. 1:20). Wisdom is on the lowest branch. But the reason that Wisdom is so near is that Wisdom is not just a concept. Wisdom is a person, a divine and omnipresent person. Wisdom is Christ (Prov. 8). It makes sense that Wisdom is the principle thing, because it is Christ. The chief thing, in every situation is that we get more and more of Jesus. And we get more of Jesus when we grow to be like him, when we grow more and more Christ-like.

Wisdom in Adversity

Now James brings up wisdom in this passage because he is talking about people who need wisdom, people who are in the midst of a great trial. But notice something subtle here. We are prone to cry out for wisdom in our trials because we need wisdom to get through our trials. But Solomon says that wisdom is the principle thing.
Wisdom is the point. And if that is the case, then we don’t need wisdom to get through trials. We need trials to get us to wisdom.

“Innocent” Lusting

And this upends everything. Because when we are in a trial, the temptation in the flesh is to set all our hopes, all our prayers, all our expectations on the other side of the trial. We think that deliverance in the trial will always come in the form of getting to the other side. We put all of our hopes in the future and we completely miss the principle thing – getting wisdom, becoming Christ-like.

Godly Confidence

James contrasts earthly wisdom with a wisdom that comes from above. There is a Heavenly Wisdom, which delivers us from lust and confusion. This means that the trial that you are currently going through is the point. The suffering that you are currently undergoing is the point. There is a way in which you are currently not Christ-like. And this current situation that you are in, this situation is custom-made for you to address this current weakness present in you. Wisdom is near you. It is here in the present tense, pointing out all the ways that you can turn from your sin and be more Christ-like. Count it all joy, James says, because this current trial is turning you into something better, something perfect.

Easter Sunday 2011: A Rest Remains

Joe Harby on April 24, 2011

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Introduction

We are celebrating Easter, the day on which we commemorate the resurrection of the Lord Jesus from the dead. But not only did He rise, but all things were restored in Him, which is something we model, not only annually, but also on a weekly basis. We worship on the first day because we are privileged to have a weekly Easter, a weekly memorial of life from the dead. Eventually we may be able to shake the name Easter (a Germanic fertility goddess, for crying out loud), but in the meantime we can rejoice that the names of the baalim don’t mean much to us anymore (Hos. 2:17). Thursday is Thor’s Day, and who cares anymore? This is an endearing quirk of English- speaking peoples—everywhere else Christians have the good sense to speak of Pascha. During the transition, if someone objects that Easter used to be a pagan name, we can reply that this seems fitting—we used to be pagans. But now we are Christians, and Christ is risen.

The Text

“There remaineth therefore a rest?? to the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his” (Heb. 4:9-10).

Summary of the Text

The Scriptures in the older testament speak of different rests—all of which the believer is invited to enter into on the basis of faith. God created the world and He rested. God promised Abraham the land of Canaan, which was another rest. And God promised that Jesus would come to bring an ultimate salvation rest. This means that believers throughout history were invited to enter into the antitypical rest of Jesus by approaching every lesser rest with the eye of true and living faith. But now that Jesus died and rose in history, this does not mean that we have no tangible rests to work through any more. No, God helped the Old Testament saints look forward to the resurrection, and He helps us look back to it. There remains a Sabbaath-rest for the people of God (v. 9). But why? Verse 10 often throws us because of the dense cluster of pronouns. We still have a Sabbath-rest because “he” has entered a rest, and has ceased from “his own works,” in just the same way that God did at the creation (v. 10). We need to fill this out.

It is sometimes assumed that the he here is a repentant sinner, ceasing from the futile labor of trying to save himself. But why would we compare the ungodly labors of self-righteousness to the godly work of creation? Why would we compare a foolish sinner to a wise God? Why would we compare an incomplete and botched work to a glorious work that was fully completed? It seems like a really bad comparison.

But what if the He is understood as Jesus? Jesus has entered a rest, just as God did. Jesus recreated the world, just as God created the world. Jesus said it was finished, and God looked at what He had made and said that it was very good. Jesus ceased from His labor of recreating the heavens and earth, and entered into the reality of the new creation. God labored for six days and nights and rested. Jesus labored for three days and nights and rested. Therefore, the people of God still have a Sabbath rest. Therefore, we worship God on the first day of the week (the day He entered His rest) instead of on the seventh day of the week.

A Regulative Reality

First, some background. We do not have the right to worship God with whatever pretty thing comes into our heads. The apostle Paul elsewhere calls this tendency “will worship” (Col. 2:23). In Reformed circles, the desire to honor this truth has been called the “regulative principle”—that which God does not require of us in worship is therefore prohibited. All Protestants need to be regulativists of some stripe, and the best expression of this principle that I have found is this one: “Worship must be according to Scripture.”

But there is a strict version of the regulative principle which is impossibly wooden, and it is not surprising that there are many inconsistencies. We can’t have a piano, because they are not expressly required. We can’t sing songs by Charles Wesley because he and other hymn-writers are not authorized. You get the picture. But we also have no express warrant for serving communion to women, or . . . worshiping God on Sunday.

A Few Hints

The most we have are a few hints. John tells us that there was a specific day that he called “the Lord’s Day” (Rev. 1:10). The apostle Paul tells the Corinthians that they should set money aside “on the first day” (1 Cor. 16:2). We are told of an instance where the disciples gathered on the first day of the week to break bread and Paul taught them (Acts 20:7). But if we are looking for express warrant, this is thin soup.

The Real Reason

How does God require things of us? What does He do to get the message to us? Are His actions authoritative? Well, yes. The material universe was created on Sunday (Gen. 1:5). The Jews had been observing the seventh day Sabbath for centuries. God appears to have told the Jews that the seventh day observance would be an everlasting covenant (Lev. 24:8). But then the day shifted from the seventh to the first without any notable controversy. How could that be? What could account for this? Nothing less than the total recreation of all things. Behold, Jesus said. I make all things new (Rev. 21:5; 2 Cor. 5:17). He came back from the dead on the first day of the week (Mark 16:9; John 20:1), meaning that this was the day on which the reCreator entered His rest. Jesus made a point of appearing to His disciples on this same day (John 20:19). His next appearance to them was a week later, on the following Sunday (John 20:26). The Holy Spirit was poured out fifty days later, also on Sunday (Acts 2:1). And in the main, the Christian church has never looked back.

Not one Christian in ten thousand could give a decent biblical defense of our practice of worshiping God on the first day, and yet here we all are. Look at us go. Can we account for this through an appeal to the stupidity of blind, inexorable tradition? No—we should actually attribute it to the fact that two thousand years ago God overhauled everything, raising His Son from the dead in broad daylight. Jesus entered His rest, and consequently we may rest and rejoice before Him.

Parish Life

Joe Harby on February 6, 2011

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Introduction

Over the years, we have seen many believers move here to the Palouse, and we have been greatly blessed by this. The reasons have obviously varied, but in countless conversations I have been a part of, the word that comes up over and over and over again is the word community. There is a reason for that, and it is a biblical reason.

The Text

“And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles. And all that believed were together, and had all things common; And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from?? house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved” (Acts 2:42-47).

Summary of the Text

As with many texts of Scripture, there is much more here than we can possibly address. But there is a key theme that we can take away from this passage, and if we do, our love for one another will only flourish and grow. In the aftermath of the great events of Pentecost, the church in Jerusalem was blessed in multiple ways. They continued steadfastly in four things—the apostolic teaching, fellowship, the breaking of bread, and prayers (v. 42). Fellowship is italicized here because that is what we want to focus on this morning. The revival provoked a response of godly fear, and the apostles performed many wonders (v. 43). The believers were knit together by the Spirit, and shared their goods freely, as any had need (vv. 44-45). They continued with one another on a daily basis in the Temple, and from house to house. They were in God’s house, but we also see that God was in their houses. They would
eat together with gladness and singleness of heart (v. 46). They praised the Lord, and the outsiders praised them (v. 47). As a consequence, there were converts on a daily basis (v. 47). When the church catches fire, the world will come to watch it burn—and often the fire will spread to them.

Setting Aside a Distraction

This passage has been grossly abused over the years, with utopians and idealists urging us to adopt some form of communism. But this was an outbreak of sharing, not an outbreak of confiscation. The Spirit enables a man to give. The devil enables a man to see that somebody else isn’t giving enough. When, a few chapters later, Ananias and Sapphira were struck down dead (Acts 5:4), it was for their lie, and not because they hadn’t met the commune’s draconian quotas. There are always liars in the church who, like Ananias and Sapphira, want to look more generous than they actually are. Today this lie in the church is perpetuated by those who confound generosity and the violence of confiscation.

And remember the circumstance. Jesus had taught His disciples that within one generation, real estate prices in Jerusalem were going to approach zero. A number of faithful Christians had thoughtfully begun to liquidate their assets (wouldn’t you?), and they were in a position to use those assets to benefit their brothers and sisters in the great revival.

The Koinonia Blessing

The word here rendered as fellowship is koinonia. It is a remarkable word, encompassing a great deal. It refers, for example, to our partaking of the Lord’s Supper together (1 Cor. 10:16). It refers to coffee and donuts time (Acts 2:46). And it refers to our time together in the rough and tumble of daily covenant life (Philemon 17). Paul argues in a restitution/runaway slave case on the basis of koinonia. As the water flows from Ezekiel’s temple, out into the world, so koinonia fellowship flows out from our worship here, until it inundates your Fourth of July barbeque get togethers.

The worship of God proper occurs on the Lord’s Day here. This is the church. What we do on Monday and Thursday afternoons represents the kingdom. The worship of God at His appointed time, in His appointed manner, is the cathedral. The rest of the week is the surrounding parish.

Strengths and Weaknesses

A number of years ago, we divided our community up into different parishes, naming them after great men in the history of the Reformation. We did this, not because we think that lines on a map create koinonia, but because we wanted to facilitate the flow of that fellowship—we wanted to build channels for it to flow in. Overall, we have been pleased with what has happened as a result of this, but we still have a lot to learn.

Some strengths: We have seen many gifted meals, van-unloading parties, shower gifts, and kirkerbay helps. Some parishes have had a thriving social/governmental experience. Good levels of elder awareness of how folks in their parish are doing. We have seen a lot of pent-up energy for works of service (more than our current structures can accommodate).

Some weaknesses: Attendance at our parish HOH meetings is frequently thin. Some of the first zeal that attended our discovery of psalm-singing is diminished. As new folks come into the church, we have the problem of pre- requisites and “shared assumptions.” We sometimes have seen parish envy (“why can’t our parish…”). Church officers are sometimes stretched thin. We need to do something that will coordinate women’s ministry. More Bible studies would be a blessing.

Three Companions

As we grow, we need to make adjustments. But we do not want to make adjustments just for the sake of making them. Rearranging the furniture is not the same thing as ongoing reformation and revival. The life of the Spirit always brings koinonia, but that life always has three companions—apostolic doctrine, breaking of bread, and prayers. Community, however it is created, is the sort of place where you can go and get propped up by others, making it look like you are more of a player than you are. All of these things are from the hands of the Lord. We rely on Him for them. We cannot generate them ourselves. We must look to Him, and to His means of grace. But this kind of proclamation is one of those means, and so our response should be to simply believe what He says about what He is doing among His people.