Christ Church

A Train of Moral Excellence (Troy)

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SERMON TEXT

2 Peter 1:3-7

INTRODUCTION

In 1996, Dr. Michael Behe wrote a book called Darwin’s Black Box: The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution. In the book, he coined a new phrase to describe the complex inner workings of the bacteria flagellum; he called it Irreducible Complexity. The flagellum is a slender thread-like structure, a spinning appendage which propels the bacteria through liquid. It works similar to an outboard motor on a boat. But instead of a gearbox, an engine, and a propeller—these large objects that we can physically manipulate with a socket wrench—the flagellum is composed of proteins, tiny building blocks so small that we need an electron microscope to look at them. When the proteins combine in the flagellum, they make a driveshaft, a universal joint, a rotor, bushings, a stater, and even a clutch and braking system. Our God is an exquisite miniaturist, engineering on a scale that is truly hard to comprehend. In his book, Dr. Behe uses some analogies to explain the concept of irreducible complexity.

OUR DESTINATION

Our destination is conformity to Jesus Christ. Verse 3 says, “As we know Jesus better, his divine power gives us everything we need for living a godly life. He has called us to receive his own glory and goodness!” Ephesians 2, puts it this way, “…we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” John 15, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” And from Titus 2, “Jesus gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

CAR #1: THE LOCOMOTIVE OF FAITH

And so we’ve come to our first train car, the most important one. It is the car on which all the others depend for movement. It stands proud at the front of the train, with its fire box and smoke stack. Pure white steam billows out of the top. The turbine generator is the powerhouse strong enough to pull all the other cars. It is the locomotive of faith.

CAR #2: A LIFE OF MORAL EXCELLENCE

(To be addressed later in the sermon)

CAR #3: KNOWING GOD

Would you like to know God better? If you are a Christian and you are hesitant to answer that question in the affirmative, then it is likely that you have an idol in your tent. There is something hidden—gold, silver, a robe from Babylon—that is preventing you from growing closer to God. Isaiah 59 says, “…your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.” Proverbs 28, “If anyone turns a deaf ear to my instruction, even their prayers are detestable.” Micah 3, “Then they will cry out to the Lord, but he will not answer them. At that time he will hide his face from them because of the evil they have done. So the double-minded Christian lives in conflict within himself. He wants to know God, but on his own terms. He doesn’t like the exclusivity clause.

CAR #4: SELF-CONTROL

The command is: keep control of yourself. Putting it that way is a reminder to us all; there is something wild within us. Usually when we say, “Keep control,” it is in a certain context. “Keep control of your dog.” “Keep control of your troops.” “Keep control of your team.” The idea being that if you do not keep control, things will start to decay on their own.

CAR #5: PATIENT ENDURANCE

How many different aspects of our lives can we connect to the virtue of patient endurance? It is at the forefront of parenting, our constant witness to non-believers, beside us in suffering, sustaining us through trials. We need it in marriage, we need it to study. We need it to plant a church, to grow a church. It is our tool of great precision when people hate us, exclude us, insult us, and reject us as evil. It is our shield to block mistreatment and slander. It’s one thing to simply endure affliction. Prisoners in the penitentiary are doing that now. It is a completely different thing to endure patiently.

CAR #6: GODLINESS

To be godly is to be like Him. Hebrews 1 says, “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.” We have many examples of godly men in the scriptures.

CAR #7: LOVING THE SAINTS

The cargo of the train of moral excellence is love. And we are to deliver this love at various stops en route to the kingdom of heaven. Romans 12 says, “Honor one another above yourselves.”

CABOOSE: LOVING EVERYONE

The caboose is genuine love for everyone. There are different tiers of difficulty when it comes to loving non-believers. Loving your non-Christian mom is not going to be the same thing as loving the person who flips you off, ignores you, or cusses you out. So let’s jump straight to the difficult part, how do we love our enemies?

THE TRACK OF GOD’S PROMISES

The train of moral excellence is a comprehensive system that is irreducibly complex. The cars of knowing God, self-control, patient endurance, and Godliness need the locomotive of faith to pull them forward. They also are inextricably linked together, each car is dependent on the next. And the train as a whole rests upon a track, without which, it cannot move. What is this foundation that the whole train rests upon? The train finds its direction, its stability, and its understructure in the promises of God.

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God the Heart-Knower (The Continuing Adventures of Jesus #24) (King’s Cross)

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INTRODUCTION

Christian warfare always consists of multiple fronts: external, domestic, and internal. The fact that we see this in the first century should give us hope and reassurance that we are not facing something profoundly new or different. This dynamic is also part of the ‘continuing adventures of Jesus.’ Our task is to walk by faith before God, the ‘Knower of Hearts, in obedience, trusting His grace. 

The Text: “And certain men which came down from Judea taught the brethren and said, except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved…” (Acts 15:1-12)

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

Certain men came to Antioch from Judea teaching the necessity of circumcision for salvation (Acts 15:1). It is likely that some of their clout was related to being from the region near Jerusalem. And this led to a significant dispute, the opposition being led by Paul and Barnabas, and so the church sent them to Jerusalem to have the matter settled by the apostles and elders (Acts 15:2-4). 

It was Christian Pharisees who were arguing that Gentiles needed to be circumcised and aim to keep the whole Jewish law, and a council was called to hear the matter (Acts 15:5-6). In the midst of the dispute, Peter testified about his experience with Cornelius and how God the “heart-knower” gave them the Holy Spirit, making no difference between Jews and Gentiles, making all clean by faith (Acts 15:7-9). Peter says that Jews of all people know the heavy yoke of the law, but they are saved by grace, just like the Gentiles (Acts 15:10-11). While this quieted down the assembly, Barnabas and Paul continued giving testimony of God’s work among the Gentiles (Acts 15:12). 

CHURCH COUNCILS & CONTROVERSY

This controversy occasioned what has come to be called the Jerusalem Council which likely occurred around A.D. 48-50. Galatians 2 addresses very similar themes and is often assumed to be describing the same event, although I lean towards thinking Galatians 2 happened before the Jerusalem Council, since Peter seems to understand everything clearly by this point. This moment is helpful for illustrating that while Christians and Christian leaders in particular must not be belligerent, there are some matters worth fighting for (cf. 2 Tim. 2:24-26, 2 Corinthians). Christian unity is in the truth, not lowest common denominator compromise (Eph. 4:3-15). At the same time, wisdom understands that there are weightier matters of the law (Mt. 23:23, Rom. 14).

This is also an example of early church government at work, where we see elders and pastors seeking wisdom and accountability beyond the local church. Because “in the multitude of counselors is safety” (Prov. 11:14, 15:22, 24:6). At the same time, the Word of God remains supreme. We do not decide truth by democratic vote. Church councils can and have erred, but that doesn’t negate the usefulness of striving for truth and unity. 

JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH ALONE

At the center of this controversy is the doctrine of justification by faith alone. The question was whether Gentiles needed to do anything more than believe in Jesus to make themselves acceptable to God. Peter flatly denied this: God saves by giving His Holy Spirit and the gift of faith that purifies our hearts (Acts 15:8-9). Salvation is by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 15:10). God does it all (cf. Acts 15:4, 7, 8, 12). Justification is the judicial act by which God freely pardons all our sins and accepts us as righteous solely because of the righteousness of Christ reckoned to us, and all received by faith alone. 

The reason this is so crucial is because any works smuggled into the equation only smuggle in with them fear and anxiety because if even 1% of your salvation (God accepting you) depends on you, how can you know if it’s enough? The answer is that you can’t know and it never is. So this is the only way to have complete peace with God: resting in the grace of God from beginning to end. He chose you in His grace before the foundation of the world, sent His Son in His grace to die and rise again, sent His Spirit into your heart to hear and believe, and He is the One who will finish that work that He has begun (Eph. 1, Rom. 5).

APPLICATIONS

We are not only justified by faith, we are also purified by faith (Acts 15:9). Cleansing is more visceral. The feelings of shame and uncleanness often haunt people. But this is often because some part of you still thinks that God accepts you on the basis of what you’ve done or not done. But this is precisely what you must repent of: “How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” (Heb. 9:14). 

God knows your heart. And there are only two possible things He sees there. He either sees sin or righteousness. It’s pure and clean or else it isn’t. But the only purity that God accepts is perfect purity, His own purity, the Holiness of the Holy God. And that is why it must be the Holy Spirit that offers Christ for you without spot to the Father. And the first thing God pardons and purges are all the things you thought would help. And He purges those things first so that you can actually begin to serve the living God. 

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The Resurrection of the World

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INTRODUCTION

Two thousand years ago, a man who had been wickedly betrayed by the religious authorities, murderously crucified by the Roman civil authorities, did the unthinkable by rising from the dead. This was God’s plan from the beginning, and the Lord Jesus knew that this was the plan.

“Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father” (John 10:17–18).

And when Jesus took up His life again, He was taking up absolute dominion. A man who dies and comes back to life again in history is the Lord of history. And this has enormous ramifications.  

THE TEXT

“But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you” (Romans 8:11). 

“For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body” (Romans 8:18-23). 

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

Not only did Jesus take up His life again, but He did this in the power of the Spirit. The Spirit raised up Jesus from the dead (Rom. 8:11). Paul’s point here is that the Spirit who accomplished this extraordinary thing is the same Spirit who dwells within Christians. The Spirit who did it once indwells the believer now, and that indwelling is itself a promise and commitment. That Spirit will quicken “your mortal bodies.” Note that the Spirit is going to do something to the mortal bodies of these Roman believers. These are the bodies that they had then, but which are now dead and gone. The Spirit is going to raise those mortal bodies. It does not say He will give them different bodies up in Heaven.  

And a few verses down from this, Paul teaches us to compare our present state with our future state. Take our current trials, afflictions, suffering, and woes, and they are not even worth comparing to the glory that is coming, and that will be revealed in us (v. 18). This present time is being compared to a future time. All creation has an earnest expectation that it longs for, and that longing is for the manifestation of the sons of God (v. 19). What does that mean? It refers to the general resurrection of the dead. The created order was subjected to vanity, not because that was desired by the creation, but rather because of God’s reasons—He is the one who bound up the creation “to vanity” so that this created order would learn to long in hope (v. 20). When the sons of God are manifested fully at their final adoption (e.g. the general resurrection), then the creation itself will be delivered into the glorious liberty of the children of God (v. 21). The creation is pregnant with resurrection, and groans and travails in its labor (v. 22). She groans and travails in pain [synodino, birth pangs], longing for the delivery of a new order. There are three that groan all together—the Spirit does (v. 26), the creation does (v. 22), and we who have the first fruits of the Spirit groan (v. 23). All the groans are teleological—they are aimed at one thing, which is our final adoption in the resurrection. We groan toward that final adoption (Eph. 1:5), which is to say, the redemption of our bodies (v. 23). 

HYPER-PARTIAL PRETERISM?

You have been taught by us that many of the prophecies in the Bible that are popularly assigned to the end of the world are actually prophecies about the end of Jerusalem and the Judaic aeon. This is true regarding many such prophecies (e.g. Matt. 24:29), but there are some who have fallen into the trap of thinking that “if one’s good, then two’s better.” They move all biblical prophecies into that category, a position which is variously called hyper-preterism, or full preterism. The perspective we teach is called partial preterism, although I must confess that I was recently called a hyper-partial preterist, which is what might be noted to be an oxymoronic and meaningless taunt. 

Now the full preterist position does not just alter the timing of a few things, but rather alters the entire architecture of biblical faith, to such an extent that it has to be called a different faith altogether. For example: physical death is not a result of the fall, Christ’s bodily resurrection was the only one (the sole exception), sin remains an eternal feature of time, history has no telos point, we don’t go forward, but rather we just go “upstairs,” and many other distinctives. These are two completely distinct systems of thought, which is why full preterism is rejected as heretical. But the systems are so different that this actually needs to be acknowledged in both directions—the rejection ought to be mutual. If full preterism were correct, all orthodox theology would need to be written off. The only reason they don’t do this is because that would be off-putting to potential recruits, and they need to fish in orthodox waters (Acts 20:29-31).  

THE HOPE OF THIS WORLD

Faithful Jews knew that there was going to be a resurrection of the dead at the end of the world. The Pharisees held to this belief, while the Sadducees denied it (Acts 23:8). Martha was a good representative of this faith, when she confessed to the Lord that she knew that Lazarus was going to be raised eventually, at the last day (John 11:24). This is the basic structure of faith—this decrepit world is nevertheless pregnant with glory, and the day of delivery will eventually come. God in His mercy determined to give us a foretaste of this final glory by raising up Christ, the first fruits of that final consummation, and to do this in the middle of human history. This testifies to us that what happened to Him will happen to us, and what will happen to us will happen to the entire created order. The Spirit has been given to us, and He was given to us as an earnest payment (1 Cor. 1:22; 5:5). “Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory” (Eph. 1:14). The redemption of the purchased possession is the general resurrection of the dead.

So as we commemorate the resurrection hope of Easter to the end of the world one of the corollaries is that there will be an end of the world.

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The Resurrection as Judgement (The Inescapable Story of Jesus #6A) (CCD)

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INTRODUCTION

It doesn’t take long in a child’s life for them to begin to expound on matters of justice.“That’s not fair!” is learned early. And indeed the world is littered with seemingly senseless instances of unjust suffering, evil persecution of the righteous, and unfair weights and measures. The question must be asked, “What is God gonna do about it?!”

THE TEXT

And he went out from thence, and came into his own country; and his disciples follow him. And when the sabbath day was come, he began to teach in the synagogue: and many hearing him were astonished, saying, From whence hath this man these things? and what wisdom is this which is given unto him, that even such mighty works are wrought by his hands? Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him. […]

Mark 6:1ff

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

The residents of Jesus’ hometown demonstrate themselves to be the sort of unfruitful soil He described in His earlier parable (Mk. 4:16-17). They too, like the residents of the Decapolis, are astonished at Jesus’ teaching and choose to reject Him. (vv1-3). While the multitudes were crowding round to hang on Jesus every word, and upon His very person, the hometown crowd had trouble apprehending their local carpenter, Mary’s boy, was a great prophet, let alone the promised Messiah; this lack of faith hinders the healing (vv4-5). His teaching caused astonishment, while their unbelief, in turn, caused Jesus to marvel (v6).

Jesus sends out the Twelve in pairs; according to Luke 10:1 another 70 were also sent out on this urgent mission (v7). Their manner of travel was to be marked by swiftness; they should travel light and not linger in towns that wouldn’t hear the sown Word (vv8-11). Their task consisted of three components: preaching repentance, for Yahweh’s Messianic Kingdom had come (v12), demonstrated this by driving out demons from Israel (v7,13), and marking judgement on the unreceptive (v11). When they return to Jesus to report how this mission went, they, like Mark’s narrative, are breathless; so Jesus whisks them off again by ship to what is intended to be a bit of a breather (vv30-32). But we’ll see that when they arrive the work will continue, for the seeds of the kingdom are growing rapidly.

But in between the disciples’ going out and coming in, Mark interrupts the narrative with the grisly tale of John the Baptist’s martyrdom at the hands of Herod. The rumors about the prophet from Nazareth were turning into rumbles; this stabs terror into the heart of Herod and his conclusion is remarkable: John the Baptist was risen from the dead (v14). Others put forth alternate opinions as to Jesus’ identity, but the consensus is that he was a prophet (v15). Herod, though, insists upon it being a resurrected John (v16). John’s imprisonment was the signal for Jesus to begin His ministry (Mk. 1:14). Now, Mark fills in the details of John’s martyrdom. Herod had seized John because John had rebuked Herod’s adultery with his brother’s wife, Herodius (vv17-18). Herodius despises John for this and seeks for his death, while Herod respected this pious man and was intrigued (vv19-20).

Nevertheless, during his birthday feast, Herodius’ daughter dances so pleasantly that Herod makes a rash promise to her of up to half his kingdom; at her mother’s counsel she straightway asks for John’s head on a platter (vv21-25). Herod is grieved at this but not enough to break his foolish oath, and immediately gives the order for John’s beheading. He gives the head to the daughter who gives it to her mother; John’s disciples bury him in a tomb (vv26-29).

WHAT HAUNTS HEROD

We’ve seen how Mark is anticipating the crucifixion, resurrection, and Great Commission a number of times. The disciples’ mission anticipates what Jesus will send them out into the whole world to do after His resurrection. Their mission consisted of a call to repentance, the expulsion of evil (exorcisms and healings), and a warning of judgement. Sodom will have it better off than those who reject this kingdom message. What Jesus is doing in Israel is about to invade the whole world.

Word of this mission, and the success of it, gets back to Herod. His monarchy was founded on politicking with the Romans, but he desired legitimacy with the Jews. He wanted the Jews to receive him as their lawful king. So then, the rumors of this prophet from Nazareth, whose message was that He was ushering in God’s kingdom was frightful news to this puppet King. Coupled with wondrous signs backing up His claims and gathering ever-growing crowds following Him and you have a terrifying combination for this pretender King.

While Mark has been doing a great deal of helping his readers look forward and see what lies ahead for Jesus, he now looks back to show us that Herod & Herodius stand in a long line of tyrant royal families. Mark calls to our mind the story of Ahab and Jezebel, persecuting Elijah and the other prophets of their day. Herod’s conniving wife had beguiled him into beheading John. Herod conclusion to the success of the disciples’ ministry is remarkably insightful. This phony king saw more clearly that most Jews did. He concludes that some sort of resurrection had taken place. Jesus had come to bring about the OT promises of life from the death. Job had foretold the resurrection even in the midst of his sufferings. Elijah (and later Elisha) had both resurrected the dead. The united voice of the OT prophets foretold the resurrection along with the sign of judgement it would be upon the wicked (Is. 26:19-21). All of this haunts Herod.

HOW DEATH MAKES WAY FOR YAHWEH’S COMING

Remember the key phrase throughout Mark’s Gospel: make straight. In the recounting of John’s martyrdom we see that word once more. Herodius’ daughter, after conspiring with her mother, goes straightway to make her wicked request and Herod immediately grants it (though grudgingly). The persecution of the righteous is not an impediment to God’s purposes but is the way in which He catches the wicked in their own net. This is made most clear in the Lord Jesus’ death.

Had the demon powers and earthly rulers known, they would not have put to death the Lord of Glory (Cf. 1 Cor. 2:8). But this was precisely the trap God was setting. God purposed that all injustice and evil would be brought upon Himself, in order that He might take into the grave and leave it there. In so doing, He would establish His universal rule of righteous judgement upon the whole earth. Beginning with Cain, the wicked have persecuted the righteous. So God sent His Son, in the flesh, so that the wicked could unleash all their injustice, indignity, and hatred of righteousness down upon His head. And now their kingdoms are all being overthrown by the increase of His righteous government in all the earth.

RESURRECTION GLORY

All of this shows why the resurrection is the certain hope of the meek, while being a holy terror to the wicked. How does God deal with our suffering? He takes it upon himself in the person of His Beloved Son. How does God deal with wicked men? He patiently calls them to repentance. But the Resurrection is a warning. Ahab & Jezebel will soon face Elijah before the judgement seat of the Risen Christ. Herod and his conniving wife will be confronted with John the Baptist who will be raised with Christ His Lord. All evil doers will be brought to justice. The resurrection is a certain sign that God will answer the martyrs’ prayer: “How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?”

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