New Testament Archives - Page 82 of 207

In Jesus’ Name, Amen

Christ Church on September 19, 2021

THE TEXT

“But now I go away to Him who sent Me, and none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’ ⁶But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. ⁷Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. ⁸And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: ⁹of sin, because they do not believe in Me; ¹⁰of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; ¹¹of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.

¹²“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. ¹³However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. ¹⁴He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. ¹⁵All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.

¹⁶“A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me, because I go to the Father.”

¹⁷Then some of His disciples said among themselves, “What is this that He says to us, ‘A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me’; and, ‘because I go to the Father’?” ¹⁸They said therefore, “What is this that He says, ‘A little while’? We do not know what He is saying.”

¹⁹Now Jesus knew that they desired to ask Him, and He said to them, “Are you inquiring among yourselves about what I said, ‘A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me’? ²⁰Most assuredly, I say to you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; and you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy. ²¹A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come; but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. ²²Therefore you now have sorrow; but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you.

²³“And in that day you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. ²⁴Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.

²⁵“These things I have spoken to you in figurative language; but the time is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language, but I will tell you plainly about the Father. ²⁶In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I shall pray the Father for you; ²⁷for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from God. ²⁸I came forth from the Father and have come into the world. Again, I leave the world and go to the Father.”

²⁹His disciples said to Him, “See, now You are speaking plainly, and using no figure of speech! ³⁰Now we are sure that You know all things, and have no need that anyone should question You. By this we believe that You came forth from God.”

³¹Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe? ³²Indeed the hour is coming, yes, has now come, that you will be scattered, each to his own, and will leave Me alone. And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me. ³³These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” (John 16:5–33)

Taming the Tongue

Christ Church on September 16, 2021

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Collegiate Reformed Fellowship is the campus ministry of Christ Church and Trinity Reformed Church in Moscow, Idaho. Our goal is to teach and exhort young men and women to serve, to witness, to stand fast, and to mature in their Christian Faith. We desire to see students get established in a godly lifestyle and a trajectory toward maturity. We also desire to proclaim the Christian worldview to the university population and the surrounding communities. CRF is not an independent ministry. All our activities are supplemental to the teaching and shepherding ministry of CC & TRC. Students involved with CRF are regularly reminded that the most important student ministry takes place at Lord’s Day worship.

Faith & Works

Christ Church on September 9, 2021

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How to Move to Moscow

Christ Church on September 5, 2021

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INTRODUCTION

As you all know, we have seen a steady stream of folks moving to Moscow, and, as you might not know, it shows no sign of letting up. Up to this point, we have all been pretty flexible, constantly dealing with a new situation. This has been true of those of you who have moved, and it is also true of long-time residents—pretty much everyone is a member of a very different church than you were in two years ago. And when confronted with a new situation, like this one, our reflexive action should be to turn to the Scriptures for direction.

THE TEXT

“Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God. Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently: Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever” (1 Peter 1:21–23).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

I want to follow a typical Pauline pattern with this Petrine text. What is the basic doctrinal foundation upon which we are to build, and then, after that, what is it we are supposed to do? First, what are we to believe and trust? And second, how are we supposed to act?

This passage begins with a sincere trust in God. You have believed in God, who raised Jesus from the dead, and who gave Him glory (v. 21). He did this so that your faith and hope might be in God (v. 21). You have been born again, not with perishable seed but rather with imperishable seed (v. 23), an eternal seed. Seeing that you have purified your souls in this way, obeying the truth through the Spirit, what are you then to do?

Because all of this is true, because you have embraced this truth, the thing you are to do is love one another with a pure heart, and make sure that the love is unfeigned. A literal rendering of unfeigned would be “non-hypocritical.” Love one another with a cleansed heart (katharos). And the word for fervently means eagerly, like you are running toward something with outstretched arms.

Because you have obeyed the truth, and trusted God, and have been blessed with the new birth, your love for one another needs to be all in.

LOVE REQUIRES DATA

Of course, love wants to do the right thing, because the motives are right, but because we are limited and finite, we need to be taught by the law of God. Say you borrow your neighbor’s lawn mower, and it blows up while you are using it. You want to do the right thing by your neighbor (love), but what does that look like? Scripture tells us. If you borrowed, you should pay him for the lawn mower. If your neighbor came over and was pushing it when it blew up, you don’t. If you rented it, you don’t owe him a lawn mower. That’s what love looks like.

SOME SCATTERSHOT EXHORTATIONS

With that in mind, this will be my best attempt to imitate the very end of one of Paul’s letters, when he was running out of papyrus.

Conduct all your business in the sight of God. Cut no corners. Do not expect anyone to cut you slack because you are “a brother” or a “kirker.” Remember that regeneration does not make anyone’s memory perfect, so write your commitments down (Ps. 15:4). Do unto others as you would have them do unto you (Matt. 7:12), which is not the same thing as waiting for others to do unto you as they would have you do unto them. That’s not in there.

Be warm and friendly toward everyone, but do not make fast friends too quickly. Do not glom onto anybody. If you make friends too quickly, you will tend to do it on the basis of personality, instead of on the basis of character. Bad companions corrupt good morals (1 Cor. 15:33), and sometimes these bad companions aren’t necessarily bad, just bad for you. Navigating friendship is a big deal (Prov. 18:24)

Get your bearings slowly. There is an awful lot going on, and give yourself time to acclimatize before making any major life-changing decisions. We assume that you newcomers will be pitching when the time is right, but if you jump in too quickly, you greatly increase the chances of a misfire (Prov. 18:13).

Here is a delicate one. Be grateful for what the Lord is doing here in Moscow, without in any way feeling superior over it. “For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?” (1 Cor. 4:7). And do everything you can to avoid disparaging the places you came from. The same goes for your previous spiritual leaders, even if they let you down. Especially if they let you down. Spiritual pride is insidious, and it would be easy to let gratitude morph into pride. But also take that your battle against pride not lure you into ingratitude.

If you were to move to Sri Lanka, you would expect things to be different, and so you would be in some measure prepared. But if you move to Canada or the UK, you are constantly thrown by things being almost what you might expect, but which are somehow not. Within the continental United States, there are significant cultural differences from region to region, and then we have our own kirker culture layered on top of that. As Moses knew, it is tough being a stranger in a strange land (Ex. 2:22).

Returning to the passage from Peter, be quick to forgive. Love is the only oil that can make this machinery run smoothly. Check that oil regularly. Cultivate your relationship with God the Father through Christ, in the power of the Spirit, because our fulfillment of the second greatest commandment is going to be the direct result of our zeal to fulfill the first.

“If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also” (1 John 4:20–21).

Of Lords and Laughter

Christ Church on September 5, 2021

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INTRODUCTION

Sarah only calls Abraham “lord” one time in recorded history. “Now Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in age; and Sarah had passed the age of childbearing. Therefore Sarah laughed within herself saying, ‘After I have grown old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?’” (Gen. 18:11-12). This ought to catch our attention. Why use Sarah as the example of submission? And why appeal to her address of Abraham as “lord?” This isn’t exactly Sarah’s shining moment. What is Peter doing with this reference?

When God appeared with two angels on the plains of Mamre, He did so to make two announcements: to reiterate that Sarah would have a son (Gen. 18:10) and to tell Abraham what He was about to do to Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 18:16-17). Those two announcements were not unrelated: What God was doing with the womb of Sarah was not unrelated to what He was doing with the nations of Canaan (Gen. 18:19). This is in the background of Peter’s instructions to slaves and wives and husbands. What God is up to with kings and governors is not unrelated to what He is up to in homes and families.

THE TEXT

“For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps… Wives, likewise, be submissive to your own husbands… as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, whose daughters you are if you do good and are not afraid with any terror” (1 Pet. 2:21-3:6).

THE TUMULT SURROUNDING ISAAC’S BIRTH

The entire Isaac-birth narrative is sandwiched around two tumultuous political events. First, comes the Sodom and Gomorrah story, beginning with Abraham’s famous appeal to God to make a distinction between the righteous and the wicked (Gen. 18:23), securing His promise not to destroy the cities if there are ten righteous there (Gen. 18:32). This is followed by the revelation of just how wicked Sodom is, and that there are not even four righteous there, but God mercifully delivers Lot and his family before the cities are destroyed (Gen. 19:29). We learn that the nations of Moab and Ammon originate from the fearful incest of Lot’s daughters (Gen. 19:36-38). That story is followed by Abraham’s sojourn into the land of Gerar where Abraham says that Sarah is his sister and King Abimelech takes her into his harem (Gen. 20). When God appears to Abimelech and announces that he is a dead man because he has taken another man’s wife, Abimelech appeals to God’s justice (Gen. 20:5), and the Lord spares Abimelech who restores Sarah to Abraham (Gen. 20:17-18). The next verse says, “And the Lord visited Sarah as he had said… For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age…” (Gen. 21:1-2).

The whole context is about cities and nations and politics. It’s about the struggle and destruction and birth of wicked nations, and the punchline is God’s laughter: the birth of a little baby boy named “Isaac” (which means “laughter”) by an elderly couple. While nations rage and churn, God is bringing their plots to nothing and laughter is being born into the world.

CHRIST AND POLITICS

This brings us back to Peter’s exhortation to wives and all of us. Sarah obeyed Abraham calling him “lord,” whose children you are as long as you do well and are not afraid of any terror. But Sarah was afraid, and so she lied about her laughter (Gen. 18:13-15). How is that an example of obedience and courage? The answer is: she repented. She says after Isaac’s birth, “God has made me laugh, and all who hear will laugh with me” (Gen. 21:6). And if Sarah can look back in faith at her laughter as God’s good joke on her, then the same can be said about her incredulous address of her husband as “her lord.” Would she have pleasure with her husband, her lord being so old? The answer was a glorious and hilarious yes – because God is Lord.

Now apply this to Christ and politics. It’s easy to read this passage superficially as though Peter is merely saying make sure you obey everything. But remember: Christ suffered at the hands of soldiers, governors, and priests (authorities all) because He would not obey various ordinances of man. Why did Christ suffer? In order to break the back of the greatest tyranny of all, that we being dead to sins, might live unto righteousness (1 Pet. 2:24). Why did Christ suffer? Because in His righteousness, He was in full submission to the will of His Father, committing Himself to the One who judges righteously (1 Pet. 2:23). Why did Christ suffer? Because this righteous obedience to God brought Him into direct conflict with the authorities. But that resistance was not full of cursing and reviling (1 Pet. 2:22-23). The resistance of Christ was full of peace and joy: And this is because the obedience of Christ was an appeal to a higher authority, the Shepherd and Bishop of His soul, and so is ours (1 Pet. 2:25).

APPLICATIONS

What God is up to with kings and governors is not unrelated to what He is up to in homes and families. And God is Lord of the details. He does not destroy the righteous with the wicked. He is busy restoring and healing the righteous, blessing the righteous and making them fruitful, even while He carries out divine bombing runs on the wicked. God’s judgments fall with laser precision, and His mercy is far greater than we can imagine (Lot? Lot’s daughters? Abimelech?). There are more than 7,000 in our land who have not bowed the knee to Baal (1 Kgs. 19:18).

Do justice in your homes. Obey your husbands. Love your wives. Honor your parents. Bring your children up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Repent of all known sin quickly. Forgive quickly. Remove the logs from your eyes so you can see clearly. Have you been living in fear? Repent. Christ is Lord. Has your laughter become cynical and bitter? Or is it the laughter of faith and repentance? You are the children of Abraham and Sarah by faith in the Lord Jesus. We walk through this world as their starry-host descendants. Hold your head up high. “Strength and honor are her clothing; she laughs at the future” (Prov. 31:25).

The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel against the Lord, and against His Christ… but He that sits in the heavens laughs… (Ps. 2:2, 4) All authority is from the Lord of Heaven, and therefore, the same standard applies to all authority. Our submission to lawful authority is in the Lord. Do you have to swallow hard at the thought of a wife obeying or disobeying her husband, a parishioner obeying or disobeying a pastor, obeying or disobeying a police officer? But we have only one Lord. He is the Greater Isaac, the Great Laughter of God.