Christ Church

Christmas Dawn

Joe Harby on

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Introduction

When Christians are discouraged by the corruptions of our time, it is like complaining about a day that is dark gray and drizzly, wet and soggy. It is in fact a day just like that, but it is not a day like that at midnight.

Because Jesus Christ lived, died, rose again, and ascended into heaven, the world and its history have been completely transformed. It was midnight, but the day has dawned. Think about it. Billions of people identify themselves as followers of Jesus Christ. All over the world people take Sunday off because Jesus rose from the dead on this day. And as much as the secularists don’t like it, our whole dating system is divided in two by the man from Nazareth. This is in fact 2014, the year of our Lord. He was the man who split history in two.

But while it is no longer midnight, we are not anywhere close to midday either. What must we do to understand our time?

The Text

“For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; And all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: And the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.

But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; And ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. And ye shall tread down the wicked; For they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the Lord of hosts” (Mal 4:1-4).

Summary of the Text

In the previous chapter, Malachi had compared the Lord’s work to a refiner’s fire. All the dross was consumed. This chapter begins in a similar way. A day is coming that will burn like an oven. The proud and the wicked will be consumed like stubble, and with nothing left for them (v. 1). But for those who looked forward to the Lord’s promised deliverance, the sun of righteousness will rise. A ball of flaming righteousness will come up, and healing will extend all along the horizon (v. 2). Those are the healing wings, stretched out to embrace the world. The response of God’s people will be to gambol out into the meadow like calves just released from the stall (v. 3). Our response is not at all dignified. When this all comes to pass, the wicked will be trampled underfoot (v. 4).

Christ the Son, Christ the Sun

Few metaphors are as fittingly biblical as comparing Christ to the sun. In reading the sun

in this way, we are letting the New Testament instruct us on how to understand the Old Testament. The heavens declare the glory of God, the psalmist tells us (Ps. 19: 1-4), and the chief ornament of those heavens is the sun. This is why God sets up a tabernacle for the sun, and the sun comes out of that tabernacle, out of that tent, like a bridegroom on his wedding day (Ps. 19:4-5). But then, in the 10th chapter of Romans, the apostle Paul takes these words and applies them to preachers of the gospel.

Spurgeon summarizes Paul’s thought this way, “So that what was here spoken of the sun by David, is referred by Paul to the gospel, which is the light streaming from Jesus Christ, ‘the Sun of Righteousness.’”

This is why Paul can refer to Christ as the bridegroom in the fifth chapter of Ephesians, and can also say the sleeper should rise and wake up because Christ will shine upon him. “Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light” (Eph. 5:14). He says this, and just nine verses later he is comparing Christ to the bridegroom.

Christmas Dawn

What do we then learned about Christmas from this great word from Malachi? What is the point?

First, the advent of the Christ means the destruction of the proud. There is heat that burns like an oven, and there is heat that makes calves want to play in the sunshine. When God is praised, whenever God is glorified, the humble hear it and are glad (Ps. 34:1-2). The entire cosmos—in heaven, on earth, and under the earth—has been transformed by the birth of this child, and that is why we have celebrations with tinsel, cocoa that is too hot, stupid and overdone Christmas tree ornaments, and way too much fudge. All of this because this baby was born, and if you don’t rejoice in all these apparently insignificant ways at these apparently insignificant tidings, then something needs to be done to your heart. It looks like a three-quarter inch piece of leftover beef jerky, and this is not consistent with the apostle’s desire that our hearts be enlarged. Pride puffs up, and love builds us up in humility.

Second, the sun is a sun of righteousness. God is holy, righteous, and altogether good. Going back to Psalm 19, the structure of the poem compares the law of God to the sun, and that law is perfect, converting the soul. God’s righteousness is not our enemy. God’s righteousness embodies what we were created to be in the first place. But God’s righteousness is the enemy of all that would corrupt us. His righteousness consumes our dross, and refines our silver. We only take it so badly because we don’t know which is the dross and which is the silver, but it all feels like me.

This relates to the third point, which is that God’s righteousness brings healing in its wings. What God’s righteousness destroys is that which was destroying us. Our unrighteousness is the cancer, and God’s righteousness is the chemo. It isn’t always pleasant, but it is always good.

And it is important here to say a word about our justification—because we are forgiven, because we have been declared righteous, God can work on the sin that we have to deal with in a spirit of no condemnation. Every sin that He mortifies in us is a sin that has already been crucified, two thousand years ago.

Last, you shall “go forth.” Righteous that rises in the sky is not debilitating. The night is over, and as the psalmist says, joy comes in the morning (Ps. 30:5). The meaning of Christmas dawn is the meaning of every dawn. Christ is risen, and He has risen from the dead because once in the dead of night, He became a boy child so that it might be said of Him “that of the increase of His government there will be no end.”

Read Full Article

Grace and Peace

Joe Harby on

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Introduction

Today we celebrate the giving of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost. As we consider this great event, we have to remember that the Holy Spirit is aPerson, not an impersonal force. He was given to the Church at Pentecost so that He might glorify Jesus Christ, who in turn brings us to the Father. Our salvation involves every person of the Trinity, and it is important for us to know how they work together in a divine conspiracy—to liberate us from the chains of our own selfish hearts.

The Text

“To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 1:7).

Summary of the Text

This salutation at the beginning of Romans has something in common with the salutations at the beginning of most of the epistles of the New Testament. It is virtually verbatim in many other letters (1 Cor. 1:3, 2 Cor. 1:2, Gal. 1:3, Eph. 1:2, Phil. 1:2 Col. 1:2, 1 Thess. 1:1, 2 Thess. 1:2, Phile. 1:3). In the pastorals Paul adds the word mercy (1 Tim. 1:2; 2 Tim. 1:2; Tit. 1:4). Peter does the same thing (2 Pet. 1:2), and in his first epistle he mentions grace and peace, but without mention of the Father and the Son (1 Pet. 1:2). The apostle John does it once, with the addition of the word mercy (2 Jn. 1:3).

What does it all mean? In order to answer that question we have to consider some other aspects of biblical teaching, and we also have to bring in a bit of church history.

How We Come to God

“For through him [Jesus] we both [Jew and Gentile] have access by one Spirit unto the Father” (Eph. 2:18). The Bible teaches that we cannot come to God unless God has first come to us. We cannot come to the Father, except by Jesus, and we cannot come to Jesus unless it is by the Spirit. And we cannot have the Spirit unless the Spirit has been poured out. And this is what we find.

If you will permit a homely little analogy, the text above shows us how we come to God. The Father is the destination we are traveling to. The Son is the road, the way we must travel. The Holy Spirit is the car. For by this road we have access to our destination by means of this car. The triune God comes to us so that we might come to Him.

A Bit of Church History

Our church has, as one of its foundational creeds, the Nicene Creed. In the original form of the creed, it said that the Holy Spirit proceeded “from the Father.” For the Eastern Orthodox, it remains that way. In the Western Church, which includes both Roman Catholics and Protestants, one word was added, which in English is rendered with three words. That one word is filioque, which means “and the Son.” This means that we confess that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father “and the Son.”

Fruit and Gifts

The Holy Spirit gives gifts, and the Holy Spirit also bears fruit. Another thing He does is teach us to prioritize these things rightly. He is the one who works in our hearts so that we might understand the relationship of gifts and fruit.
We have a tendency to focus on those things God gives which flash and pop. We are attracted to shiny objects. Miracles are always impressive, and the prophets get to speak up front, and so on. But notice how the Bible ranks these things. Paul says that the church at Corinth was a very giftedchurch (1 Cor. 1:7). They were not lacking in any spiritual gift. But just a page or so later, he is saying that he could not address them as spiritual men, but rather as carnal men (1 Cor. 3:1). Please let this sink in. Having spiritual gifts does not make one a spiritual man. Later in the same book, he prioritizes everything wonderfully. The gifts are marvelous, but he still shows the Corinthians a “more excellent way” (1 Cor. 12:31). The gifts include some that are reckoned as the “best,” but Paul goes on to argue for something better even than that.

And what he argues for is love (1 Cor. 13:1ff). In effect, he says that the fruit of the Spirit is far more evidence of His active presence than the gifts of the Spirit are. No one wants to be gifted like Balaam was, and yet devoid of integrity like he was. Jesus said that everyone would know that we were His disciples by our love for one another. “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another” (John 13:35).

Just Be Nice?

Now “love one another” sounds kind of Sunday Schooly, doesn’t it? But love in a fallen world is hard as nails. Loving is tough, an arduous business. In order to make it possible, God had to pour Himself out upon the Church on the day of Pentecost, and He did so in the person of His Holy Spirit.

So Why is the Spirit Absent?

Back to our texts. It may have struck some as odd that the text for this sermon on Pentecost was a text that did not mention the Spirit at all. But the oddity goes beyond that. In all these passages, in all these salutations, the Holy Spirit is not named specifically at all, and the Father and the Sonare mentioned. The formulae is basically this: grace and peace to you from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. If we were prone to take offense on behalf of others, we might wonder why the Spirit is being so consistently slighted.

But the Spirit is not absent here. Jonathan Edwards, the great Reformed theologian argues, I believe compellingly, that the Holy Spirit is the grace and peace. Given the nature of the case, the Holy Spirit draws attention away from Himself, and He goes under various names. For example, He is called the seven Spirits of God (Rev. 1:4). For another, He is called the finger of God (Luke 11:20; Matt. 12:28). He is called the river of living water (John 7:38-39). The Spirit loves to go incognito.

And in virtually every epistle in the New Testament, the saints of God are reminded of their daily and ongoing dependence upon Him. Grace and peace be upon you. This is the gift of the Father and the Son, giving themselves to you, in the person of their Spirit. Grace and peace be with you, both now and forever.

Read Full Article

Many Mansions

Joe Harby on

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Introduction

Today is Ascension Sunday, the time when we remember the ascension of the Lord Jesus into the heavenly realms, where He was ushered on the clouds of heaven into the presence of the Ancient of Days, where He was given universal power, authority, and dominion. From that place, He rules on earth, but also in that place, He is doing something else.

The Text

“Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know. Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way? Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him” (John 14:1–7).

Summary of the Text

The immediate preceding context for this passage is Peter’s claim that he would lay down his life for Christ. Jesus responds by saying that Peter will deny Him three times before the cock crows. His statement right after that, no doubt because of the consternation among the disciples, was “let not your heart be troubled” (v. 1). He summons them to believe in Him the same way they believed in God (v. 1). His Father’s house contains many mansions—Jesus would have told them if it were otherwise (v. 2). He is going away to prepare a place for them there. If He goes to prepare a place, then that means He will come back to take them there (v. 3). He tells the disciples they know where He is going, and they know the way (v. 4). Thomas responds that they don’t know either of those things (v. 5). Jesus says in effect that they knew without knowing. He said that Heis the way, the truth, and the life. He is the way to the Father (v. 6). If they know Him, which they did, then they know where He is going (to the Father), and they know the way to the Father (Jesus). To know Jesus is to know the Father (v. 7). To attempt to know God apart from Jesus is to try to be a philosopher, instead of a Christian. A Christian knows God through Jesus.

Honest Thomas

We sometimes like to patronize the apostles, as though we would have done any better than they did. Peter once walked on water five yards farther than any of us could have done, and yet we goho, ho, ho at him because he looked at the waves and sank. Thomas is called Doubting Thomas because he refused to believe the resurrection unless he saw and touched Christ’s wounds for himself. But here he is the member of the class who refuses to pretend that he understands when he doesn’t. This is a disciple who will not blow smoke. He is the one saying what we all ought to be saying here— what do you mean?

A Promise for All

Jesus here is talking to the Twelve, and yet Christians naturally and easily (and rightly) apply these words to every saint in the history of the world. “My Father’s house” is obviously Heaven. The word rendered as mansions here is μονή (monay), and simply means dwelling places within a larger house. The English word mansion is only misleading to those who don’t know the history of the English word—it can refer to a spacious apartment in a much larger house, as in a king’s palace. “My Father’s house” is the palace, and Jesus was preparing the rooms for His disciples. The spiritual logic of understanding the afterlife requires us to apply this to ourselves. We are all given the words of the Bible for a reason. We are not supposed to think that while the apostles get the spacious apartments, we will get the bunkhouses on the back 40.

Faith in the Midst of Trouble

First, consider the Lord’s faith. He knew what was about to happen to Him, within hours, and yet He commands the disciples to believe in Him. He says that He is the way, when He will be nailed to a cross within hours. He says that He is the truth, when He will apparently be outmaneuvered by all the lies the world ever told. He says that He is the life, when His body will soon be a lifeless corpse. But Jesus saw through and past all that. For the joy set before Him, He endured the cross, despising the shame (Heb. 12:2).

Then think about what Jesus was telling the disciples to do. The disciples were about to go through a maelstrom of trouble. Jesus was going to be arrested, betrayed by one of them, they were going to be scattered, one of them would deny Him, and just one of them—John—would stay with Him. In that context, Jesus commands them to believe in Him.

He tells them that they will be in trouble, but should not let the trouble be in them. Let not your hearts be troubled. They had left all behind them for Jesus. They had burned the bridges behind them to go with Jesus. And now He announces that He was going to leave them. Not only that, but He would depart from them in what appeared to be a spectacularly disastrous way.

Many Mansions, Many Rooms

There is therefore a two-fold meaning to the Ascension. From the right hand of God the Father, the Lord Jesus is ruling all the nations of men (Dan. 7:13-14), preparing the earth for His return. But this passage means that He is also preparing Heaven for the “arrival” of earth. When the rooms are ready, He will come to get us, and take us there.

Bring this down to the individual level. While Jesus is fitting Heaven out for us, His governance of all the circumstances of our lives (including the afflictions and big troubles in it) is an essential part of the process of preparing us for the rooms we will dwell in. He is working both ends toward the middle. Our longing and our prayer should be for that glorious meeting in the middle.

Read Full Article

State of the Church 2014

Christ Church on

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Introduction

It is our custom to have a “state of the church” message every year around this time. Sometimes the message has to do with the church nationally, and other times the point is more local, pertaining to our own congregation. This year I want to focus on this congregation, and the point of this message is to reiterate some of our basic distinctives. What are we about? What are we trying to emphasize?

The Text

“Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe” (Phil. 3:1).

Summary of the Text

The church at Philippi had particular challenges, and Paul addressed them all by urging them to rejoice. This is a response that is always appropriate because God is always sovereign and God is always good. Not only is it appropriate for Christians to rejoice all the time, it is appropriate to bring repeated reminders to them to do so. To repeat the same exhortations should not be a grief to ministers, and it should be received as a means of keeping us all safe.

Two Kinds of Distinctives

One kind of distinctive arises from what we believe the Scripture teaches and requires of all believers. We focus on it because we believe that all believers should focus on it. This would be a principled distinctive, coupled with an ecumenical invitation.

A second kind of distinctive would arise from our particular circumstances. These are tactical circumstances, tailored to the life and situation of each congregation. Are we in an urban setting or in a small town? Should we build this kind of building or that kind? Should we build a Christian school or is there already a good Christian school? These are tactical questions.

A third kind of distinctive is sinful. This is what happens when a group tries to separate itself from other Christians through various kinds of doctrinal vainglory or ministry showboating. This is what the disciples were arguing about on the road (Mk. 9:34). We are not immune to this temptation (why would we be?), and so we want to resist it everywhere we find it. The place to look is under your breastbone.

That said, what are our principled distinctives?

Corporate Worship

We worship God because He is worthy. We do not do it for any of the results that might come about from it. Rather, we do everything else for the results it might have in helping us to glorify God. “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing” (Rev. 5:12).

Worshiping God is not a means to another end. Worshiping God is the highest calling that a human being has, or that the entire human race has. It requires no other justification. Whatever you do, it should drive you to this great end. Whatever you do, it should culminate here, in the glorification of God. There is great wisdom in the first question of the Westminster Shorter Catechism here. This is our chief end.

Dangers: one danger is that you make something you call worship into a great big deal, but it is not spiritual worship at all. Another danger is that of trying to get worship to “do” other things, like evangelism. But this is backwards.

Components: Learning the structure of covenant renewal worship, growing in our musical wisdom and literacy, teaching your families the importance of worship, weekly communion, and practical Bible teaching.

Basic Discipleship in Community

We want to emphasize basic and foundational issues in our teaching—personal piety as measured by relational piety (1 John 4:20). We want our doctrine to revolve around practical Christianity, Christian living that is meant to be lived. This is why there are recurring themes in the teachings, conferences, books published, and so on. We emphasize things like confession of sin, dealing with bitterness, maintaining relationships, how to read your Bible, the importance of Christian education, and so on.

Dangers: the danger here is that of reducing everything to a moralistic or legalistic approach. But the biblical approach is always credenda before agenda.

Components: Understanding the Apostles Creed, true Christian education for Christian kids, parish studies, having our lives intertwined in koinonia fellowship, and being driven by an eschatological optimism.

Worldview Evangelism, Outreach, Cultural Engagement

Jesus is Lord, and this means that He is relevant to all things. No area of human endeavor lies outside His authority. Our evangelism is not an attempt to helicopter victims out of a disaster area, but rather is the work of rebuilding a disaster area. Everything is relevant, and everything is related to Jesus.

The Christian faith has cultural ramifications. The Christian faith is political. The Christian faith is public. We have no business taking this light of His and putting it under our own bushel.

Dangers: one danger is the obvious one of calling it cultural engagement when we just drift along with whatever it is the world is dishing up. Another is the cowardice of shutting up because of the pc police. Or that of using a Jesus stamp on all of your personal prejudices.

Components: real Christian education (again), and a willingness to get out of our comfy little ghetto. In order to learn cultural engagement, we have to engage. We must not capitulate, and we must not run away. We must engage. This means knowing, loving, and praying for non-believers—without trying to become like them.

Conclusion

In the coming year, and in the time after that, there will no doubt be a number of times when we have practical and tactical decisions to make. A good example would be the issues surrounding the building of our new sanctuary. We have been without one since this congregation was established in 1975. We have a church that we planted just ten years ago that has its own building now, and we still don’t, which is the coolest thing in the world.

But when we come to build our own building (or if we do anything else), make sure that everything is brought back to these three areas. How will this help us do that? Unless we make a point of doing it this way, we will be like a crotchety bachelor deciding to get married in his late forties. What could go wrong?

Read Full Article

What the Lord’s Brothers and Sisters Knew

Joe Harby on

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Introduction

Jesus had four brothers, and at least two sisters (Mark 6:3; Matt. 13:55-56). The names of His brothers were James, Joses, Judah, and Simon. James was the author of the book of James, and Judah was the author of the book of Jude (Jude 1:1). With Joseph and Mary having that number of children, it would not be hard for their descendants to number in the many millions today. You ought to be nicer to the person you are sitting next to— they might be related to Jesus. But of course, as we will see, the Lord calculates the importance of these things differently.

The Text

“His brethren therefore said unto him, Depart hence, and go into Judaea, that thy disciples also may see the works that thou doest. For there is no man that doeth any thing in secret, and he himself seeketh to be known openly. If thou do these things, shew thyself to the world. For neither did his brethren believe in him. Then Jesus said unto them, My time is not yet come: but your time is alway ready. The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil. Go ye up unto this feast: I go not up yet unto this feast; for my time is not yet full come. When he had said these words unto them, he abode still in Galilee. But when his brethren were gone up, then went he also up unto the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret” (Jn. 7:3-10).

Summary of the Text

At this point in the Lord’s ministry, the Lord’s brothers were not persuaded by Him. They were not believers. They were pious Jews, observing the Feast of Booths here, but they did not believe the claims Jesus was making. They taunted Him—if you want to make a name for Yourself with these miracles that You are doing, you need to go to the big city to do them (vv. 3-4). The text then says explicitly that they were talking this way because they did not believe in Him. The reply that Jesus makes to them shows the true nature of the true antithesis. Jesus says that every time is “their time,” but His time has not yet come (v. 6). The world cannot hate them, which means that in some fundamental way, they were still part of the world system (v. 7). Members of His immediate family belonged to “the world.” Jesus, however, testified to the world that its works were evil— in a way that His brothers could not do. He told them to go up to the Feast, which they did (vv. 8-9). Jesus followed later, but went secretly (v. 10).

Sorting Some Things Out

Several of the disciples were named James also. One was a son of Alphaeus (Acts 1:13). Another was a son of Zebedee, brother to John, and he was martyred by Herod (Acts 12:1-2). A third James, James the Lord’s brother, was a leader in the church at Jerusalem, and was called James the Just by Hegesippus, a second century historian. This James is the one who wrote the book of James. His brother Jude, another half brother to the Lord, wrote the book of Jude.

True Relations

All the references we have to the Lord’s siblings prior to the resurrection indicate that they were not impressed with Him. We have the evidence of our text in John 7, of course, and in Mark, when Jesus made His first big “stir,” they showed up at the crowded house in order to take Him in hand. We see this by the response the Lord gave to them.

“There came then his brethren and his mother, and, standing without, sent unto him, calling him. And the multitude sat about him, and they said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren without seek for thee. And he answered them, saying, Who is my mother, or my brethren? And he looked round about on them which sat about him, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren! For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother” (Mark 3:31-35).

In the third century, blood relatives of the Lord were called desposyni, those belonging to the master. Now something like that would be fun to discover on ancestry.com, but look at how the Lord places it all in perspective. Anyone can be His brother, His sister, or His mother. How? By doing the will of God.

The Impact of the Resurrection

So before the resurrection, to the extent we have information about it, it shows that the Lord’s siblings did not believe in Him. We know that Mary did believe in Him, but there were family dynamics going on. But immediately after the resurrection, everything apparently changed. After the resurrection, we don’t have any record of unbelief in the Lord’s family. James, the Lord’s brother, is reckoned among the apostles (Gal. 1:19), and a pillar in the church (Gal. 2:9). The Lord’s brothers were reckoned among those in ministry (1 Cor. 9:5). The key appears to have been the fact that Jesus made an appearance to James after the resurrection (1 Cor. 15:7).

What is Faith?

Scripture tells us that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God (Rom. 10:17). Scripture tells us that faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (Heb. 11:1). But most of all, we see in Scripture that faith is a gift, a grace, a present (Eph. 2:8-10).

The gift is not automatic. Someone could have grown up right next to Jesus—in the bedroom next to His—and not have faith. Proximity does not create faith. An encounter with the risen Christ does.

We understand the connection between the baby Jesus and the risen Jesus because we have heard the entire story. But some want a sentimental Christmas with the baby Jesus only. If He stays in the crib, He can’t mess around with my life. Genuine faith cannot function in this way.

Read Full Article