Christ Church

Church Discipline (CC Troy)

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1 CORINTHIANS 5

It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father’s wife.

2 And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you.

3 For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed,

4 In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ,

5 To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

6 Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?

7 Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:

8 Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

9 I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators:

10 Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world.

11 But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolator, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat.

12 For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within?

13 But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.

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Creationism vs. Theistic Evolution (Practical Christianity #2) (King’s Cross)

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INTRODUCTION

One of the most virulent viruses to infect modern Christianity is Darwinism. On the one hand, many academics have been cool-shamed into compromise, and on the other hand, even many young earth creationists are functional Darwinists. But you cannot build any house on the sand of human whims and hubris. Scientific theories come and go, but the Word of God stands forever.

The Text: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light…” (Gen. 1:1-2:3)

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

The whole Bible opens with this record of God’s intentional, personal creation of all that exists from nothing by the power of His word. The Bible records this work of God as occurring over the course of six ordinary days, marked by “evening and morning” culminating in the seventh day of rest, and all “very good.” There is a clear structure to the work and text, the first three days “forming,” the second three days “filling.” God created light and separated day and night on the first day (Gen. 1:1-5). He separated the waters above and below and created the heaven or sky on the second day (Gen. 1:6-8). He gathered the waters into one place and caused dry ground to appear and the first plants on the third day (Gen. 1:9-13). He set the sun, moon, and stars in the firmament as signs and for keeping time and ruling the day and night (Gen. 1:14-18). On day five, God filled the sea with creatures and the sky with winged, flying creatures (Gen. 1:19-23). And God created every land animal on the sixth day and finally man and woman in His image to rule the world (Gen. 1:24-30). And God saw all that He had made and pronounced it very good, and rested on the seventh day and blessed it (Gen. 1:31-2:3).

EVIDENCE OF HISTORY

Some Christians try to avoid the straightforward meaning of this text by arguing that it is symbolic or poetic. But that merely betrays a very modern prejudice against poetry, as though if something is poetic, it’s meaning is unclear or not historical. But the Song at the Sea celebrates the crossing of the Red Sea (Ex. 15) and the Song of Deborah celebrates the defeat of Sisera (Jdg. 5): and those poems are historical. Genesis 1 is poetic, but it is also historical.

While some like to connive by pointing out that God is outside of time and time is different for God, the Bible repeatedly invites us to believe that God condescended to our ordinary time. A “day” ordinarily means 24 hours, an evening and a morning, and that is exactly what is presented in Genesis 1. The Sabbath command says that God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh, and that is why we work for six days and rest for one day (Ex. 20:11). Likewise, Jesus says that Adam and Eve were created at the “beginning of creation” (Mk. 10:6). To posit millions (or billions) of years of “creation” before Adam and Eve (or the first male and female creatures) contradicts Jesus.

THEISTIC EVOLUTION

While there several different ways Christians sometimes try to dodge Genesis 1, the most common and popular is called “theistic evolution,” or sometimes “evolutionary creation,” which generally accepts Darwin’s model of gradual evolution from pre-existent matter into simple organisms all the way down to the present complexity and intelligence of human beings, which really is one of the dumbest things moderns have come to believe.

And theistic evolutionists try to salvage the folly by insisting that God actively used and guided the evolutionary process.

The problem is that this means God used random mutations (deformities), survival of the fittest (strong destroying the weak), violence, suffering, and death for billions of years to create the present state of the world. But this does deadly damage to central doctrines of the Christian faith: First, the Bible says that creation groans for redemption, having been subject to corruption (Rom. 8:19-22). Creation was created “good” and pronounced “very good,” and it was Adam’s sin that subjected it to corruption. Theistic evolution essentially says that creation has always groaned, always been subject to corruption, and somehow that was “good.”

Second, the Bible teaches that death did not enter the world until Adam sinned: “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned” (Rom. 5:12). This guts the Fall of any real significance (there had been dying for millennia?). What really changed?

And this brings us to the biggest problem: Third, theistic evolution undermines the point of Christ and His death. Why did Jesus have to die if a sinless man could be evolved from a humanoid ape? Couldn’t God have just re-evolved man for salvation? The Bible teaches that Christ is a “new Adam” come to restore what the first Adam lost (Rom. 5, 1 Cor. 15).

POLITICAL RAMIFICATIONS 

The Declaration of Independence famously says: “… that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men…”

You cannot have life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness or the kind of limited governments that actually secure those rights, unless you have a Creator who has created men endowed unalienably with those rights. You cannot have that freedom apart from that Creator. And the more muddled you are about that Creator and His creation, the more muddled you will be about those rights and how civil governments secure them. When the doctrine of Creation is considered non-essential, soon your churches, your businesses, and your unalienable rights will also be considered non-essential.

CONCLUSIONS 

The personal, intentional creation of all things by the Word of God in six days is the foundational expression of God’s kindness, and grace. It is what theologians often call “common grace,” but it is not really common at all. It is exotic and mind-blowing love.

And that it is why it is not merely enough to reject Darwinism as a scientific theory, you must also reject it in every form. And what I mean is the kind of functional Darwinism that imagines that you can trick God’s blessing out of disobedience, that presumptuously lies about the goodness of God’s providence, and no matter what, “God will work it all out for good.”

Sometimes some of the most hardcore creationist families are some of the harshest and ugly in their words. God’s word spoke the universe into existence. God’s word upholds it all with supreme kindness. What kind of world are you making with your words?

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Close Words, Distant Hearts (CC Troy)

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ISAIAH 29

Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David dwelt! add ye year to year; let them kill sacrifices.

2 Yet I will distress Ariel, and there shall be heaviness and sorrow: and it shall be unto me as Ariel.

3 And I will camp against thee round about, and will lay siege against thee with a mount, and I will raise forts against thee.

4 And thou shalt be brought down, and shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust, and thy voice shall be, as of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust.

5 Moreover the multitude of thy strangers shall be like small dust, and the multitude of the terrible ones shall be as chaff that passeth away: yea, it shall be at an instant suddenly.

6 Thou shalt be visited of the Lord of hosts with thunder, and with earthquake, and great noise, with storm and tempest, and the flame of devouring fire.

7 And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel, even all that fight against her and her munition, and that distress her, shall be as a dream of a night vision.

8 It shall even be as when an hungry man dreameth, and, behold, he eateth; but he awaketh, and his soul is empty: or as when a thirsty man dreameth, and, behold, he drinketh; but he awaketh, and, behold, he is faint, and his soul hath appetite: so shall the multitude of all the nations be, that fight against mount Zion.

9 Stay yourselves, and wonder; cry ye out, and cry: they are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink.

10 For the Lord hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he covered.

11 And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed:

12 And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned.

13 Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:

14 Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.

15 Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the Lord, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who seeth us? and who knoweth us?

16 Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter’s clay: for shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not? or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, He had no understanding?

17 Is it not yet a very little while, and Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest?

18 And in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness.

19 The meek also shall increase their joy in the Lord, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.

20 For the terrible one is brought to nought, and the scorner is consumed, and all that watch for iniquity are cut off:

21 That make a man an offender for a word, and lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate, and turn aside the just for a thing of nought.

22 Therefore thus saith the Lord, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob, Jacob shall not now be ashamed, neither shall his face now wax pale.

23 But when he seeth his children, the work of mine hands, in the midst of him, they shall sanctify my name, and sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and shall fear the God of Israel.

24 They also that erred in spirit shall come to understanding, and they that murmured shall learn doctrine.

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Hard Law, Hot Gospel: No Longer Toddlers (CC Downtown)

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INTRODUCTION

Let me set before you a ridiculous image. Think of the most dignified and respected person you know personally. Now, picture them behaving with all the maturity of a Mountain Dew fueled 12 year old boy at a game night with his buddies. This incongruity is how we should see Law-keeping in relation to Christ coming and receiving His promised inheritance.

THE TEXT

Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all; But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father. Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world: But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. […]

Galatians 4:1ff

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

Paul’s rebuke has been severe. But it shouldn’t be mistaken as uncontrolled wrath. His “tone” is imminently deliberate. Bear that in mind in studying this section. The metaphor of an heir in infancy continues (v1). In the Greek world, a servant would be tasked with keeping the young heir from danger, and was responsible for tutoring the heir in the family business (v2). Mankind’s situation prior to Christ’s coming, was like a child with strict boundaries (v3). This immaturity was also a bondage to the elements of the world, more on that momentarily. The Law’s tutelage was always temporary until the fulness of time was complete, when God sent forth the Seed of the Woman to redeem mankind out from under the Law, in order to receive adoption through faith in Christ (vv4-5). This is all very similar to what Paul taught in the previous section, but with one more addition to drive his whole argument home. The works of the flesh could never justify you, which is why now, by faith in Christ, you receive the Spirit. This Spirit cries out within you that you are born anew with God as Your Father; you’re not a servant but a son and heir of all that Your Father possesses (vv6-7).

So then, the Galatians’ attempt to relive history by going back to where the Jews started is to go back into bondage. They once served demons, and for them to desert this Gospel which Paul had proclaimed to them is to go back into prison. This is why Paul is so concerned for them, they are squandering the gift of the Gospel which Paul had bestowed upon them (vv8-11). Paul is not offended because of a personal slight (v12); after all, he recalls to them how he first ministered unto them in “infirmity of flesh” (Cf. Acts 14:19-20), and they had received him as an angel, as Jesus Himself (vv13-14). They were so blessed by Paul, that they would have even given him their eyes (v15). So why, he asks, have they begun to treat him as an enemy for telling them the truth (v16)? The Judaizers are happy to convince the Galatians that they are “out” until they meet all the requirements necessary to become Jews; this is the epitome of a spiritual power trip (v17).

Instead of trying to please these Judaizers, Paul wishes that the Galatians would be zealous for the truth, regardless whether he’s present or not (v18). But now, he must labor like a woman in childbirth for them again, because, by all appearances, they had not yet been born anew (v19). In all this, Paul is aware of his tone, though he wishes it were unnecessary, he doesn’t apologize for it (v20). Not only that, but he derides their comprehension of the Law itself (v21). To understand the law, you must understand the story of two women, their sons, and two mountains (vv22-25). Hagar is Sinai which is actually earthly Jerusalem, while Sarah is the prophesied heavenly Jerusalem. As Isaiah foretold (Is. 54:1), heavenly Jerusalem would be our mother (vv26-27). Christians are like Isaac, heirs of the promise, while these Judaizers are persecuting Ishmaels. This underscores that the old order is over and Gentiles and Jews, by faith in Christ are free-born sons (vv28-31).

TWO WOMEN

A prominent framework in evangelicalism is to draw a dividing line through Scripture, separating the Law and Grace. Certainly, we can identify, especially here in Galatians, that there is some sort of division taking place. There is a war. We’ll see in the next chapter that the flesh and the Spirit are in a war. But the division is not internal to the Scriptures, or within God’s purposes. It isn’t as if God concluded that this Law thing really wasn’t working out and it was time to try something new. Rather, the division has always been between believers and unbelievers. Those of faith and those of the flesh.

This is why Paul uses the allegory of Hagar and Sarah and their sons. There is a story that God is telling, and you must understand the characters if you are to understand where you are in the story. Fastidious exegetes might squirm at Paul’s use of Genesis and Isaiah here, but we shouldn’t. Can’t you see? Two women. One barren yet beloved. One a slave-woman, with an ill-begotten child of the flesh. It’s clear, right? Sinai against Heavenly Jerusalem. Works of the flesh or simple faith in Christ the Seed promised in Eden and to Abraham and to David.

The question of who is your mother is quite important. The slave’s sons are marked by unbelief. The children of Sarah believe in Christ. Heavenly Jerusalem was once barren, but by God’s steadfast love she is now bearing children in all the ends of the earth. So, Paul confronts the Galatians with their immaturity. They are letting Ishmael bully them into being ashamed of being heirs in Christ/Isaac. Again, the Galatians were misreading the story of history, and thus were missing their own place in the story. They wanted to live by sight and not by faith.

SPIRITUAL WARFARE

This passage also gives us an important understanding of what true spiritual warfare is. Before Christ, the nations worshipped idols, and behind these idols were demon beings. For the Galatians to return to the observance of days, months, times, and years is to go back to the idols, and thus back to serving demons. This means that all efforts to live outside of the framework of Christ’s ascension to the Father’s right hand are at their root a return to bondage to the elements of this world (i.e. the demons).

GROWING UP

In Christ, mankind is coming into maturity. We are inheriting the world. This requires us to walk by faith in Christ every step of the way. The whole Bible is ours. The Law is the Law of Love; love for God our Father, and love to our neighbor. The Proverbs are given to us to understand the workings of this world. The Psalms are given to govern all our emotions, so we may exhort and admonish one another with sanctified affections. The Prophets are given to us to prick our conscience, and to teach us to look at our own time with eagle-eye discernment. The Gospels are ours, for they display all the perfection of Christ our redeemer. The Epistles are ours for we are taught all things necessary for life and godliness in this New Creation of Christ our Head. And John’s Apocalypse is given to us to assure us that the dragons and demons are bound, and the King is ruling upon this earth which He inherited through us, His body.

Would you grow into that maturity? The only way is by His Word and His Spirit. The Word which begets you, and the Spirit which gives you Christ’s life. Receive it by faith.

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On the Street Called Straight (Acts of the Apostles #22) (Christ Church)

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INTRODUCTION

We are now reading about the very beginning of Saul’s Christian life, and his apostolic ministry. We are looking at just 21 verses, and in that short span we see two distinct attempts on his life. The thing that infuriated them against him was the fact that he was so powerful in his proclamation and reasoning. In fact, it was the very same response that Saul had earlier given to Stephen. Saul was now on the receiving end.

THE TEXT

“And there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias; and to him said the Lord in a vision, Ananias. And he said, Behold, I am here, Lord. And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the street which is called Straight, and inquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul, of Tarsus: for, behold, he prayeth, and hath seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in, and putting his hand on him, that he might receive his sight. Then Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem: And here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on thy name. But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel: For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake . . .” (Acts 9:10–31).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

The Lord appeared in a vision to a certain discipline named Ananias, a man who lived in Damascus (v. 10). The Lord called him by name, and Ananias answered. The Lord gave the address of the house of Judas, on a street called Straight, and told him to inquire for Saul of Tarsus, who was praying (v. 11). In Saul’s prayer, he has seen a vision of a man named Ananias coming to lay hands on him in order to heal his sight (v. 12). Ananias protested, for he had heard about the evil Saul had done to the saints in Jerusalem (v. 13). And he has authority from the chief priests to arrest Christians there in Damascus (v. 14). But the Lord told Ananias to goanyway—Saul was a chosen vessel to bear the Lord’s name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel (v. 15). The Lord said he would show Saul how much he would suffer for “my name’s sake” (v. 16). So Ananias obeyed, came into the house, laid hands on Saul, and said that the same Jesus who had appeared to Saul had also appeared to Ananias, sending him to restore Saul’s sight, and to fill him with the Holy Spirit (v. 17). Scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see, and then he got up and was baptized (v. 18). Saul then ate and was a strengthened, and stayed with the disciples there in Damascus (v. 19). He began preaching Christ as the Son of God in the synagogues immediately (v. 20). Those who heard him were amazed, recognizing in him the former persecutor (v. 21). But Saul increased in strength, and was able to confound the Jews there, proving that Jesus was in fact the Christ (v. 22). After many days of this, the Jews plotted to kill Saul (v. 23). Their plots became known to Saul, that they were watching the city gates closely in order to assassinate him (v. 24). So the disciples lowered him from the city wall in a basket by night (v. 25). Saul came back to Jerusalem and tried to join up with the Christians—but they were afraid and didn’t believe him (v. 26). But Barnabas undertook for him, brought him to the apostles, told them about the Damascus road vision, and how Saul had preached boldly in Damascus (v. 27). And so Saul joined with the Christians, in and around Jerusalem (v. 28). Saul spoke boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus, and disputed with the Hellenistic Jews, to the point where they determined to kill him (v. 29). When the brothers discovered this, they took him down to Caesarea on the coast, and shipped him to Tarsus, Saul’s home town (v. 30). There was then a period of relative calm in Judea, Galilee, and Samaria. The churches were walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Spirit, and continued to multiply (v. 31).

BUILDING A TIMELINE

We don’t have hard dates to begin our calculations, but Stephen was likely murdered a few years after the Lord’s resurrection. Saul was busy with persecuting the church after that time, and so the Lord’s appearance to him was likely a few years after Stephen’s death. And then in Galatians, Paul says that God was pleased “to reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood: Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me; but I went into Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus. Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him fifteen days” (Gal. 1:16–18). This means that Saul did not return to Jerusalem until three years after he headed off to Damascus. He was in Damascus/Arabia/Damascus before he returned.

BEFORE KINGS

So the Lord told Ananias that Saul was a chosen instrument to speak to three categories—to Gentiles, kings, and to the children of Israel. Why to kings, if God is uninterested in what happens in the political sphere. And sure enough, Agrippa remarked that Paul was trying to convert him (Acts 26:28). And Paul acknowledged it—he wanted everyone to come to Christ. This is why believers are to pray for kings and for all those in authority (1 Tim. 2:1-4). And why? Because God wants all kinds of men to be saved (1 Tim. 2:4).

JESUS APPEARED TO ANANIAS

Three men named Ananias appear in the book of Acts. The first is a false friend of the Lord, the Ananias (Acts 5). The second is the true disciple in our passage, Ananias, the man who baptized Saul (Acts 9). And the third was Ananias the high priest, the enemy of God (Acts 23-24). This Ananias was notable among the disciples, but he is described simply as “a disciple,” even though he is authorized to baptize Saul.

It was the Lord who appeared to Ananias in a vision. The Lord here is Jesus, as Ananias says in v. 17. This same Jesus that appeared to you appeared to me. Moreover, the Lord says in v. 15 that Saul will bear “my name,” and He also will suffer greatly “for my name’s sake.” This is all about Jesus.

HOW MUCH HE MUST SUFFER

When God tells Ananias to go, he is reluctant. One of the things that the Lord says to him in order to reassure him is that Saul will be shown the great things that he will suffer for the sake of the Lord’s name (v. 16). Later in Acts, Paul tells Agrippa that he was “not disobedient to the heavenly vision,” which means that he walked into a life of tribulation with his eyes open. Attempts on his life begin almost right away, with a narrow escape from Damascus in a basket, followed by an escape from Jerusalem back home to Tarsus. Paul put it this way later on in Acts, as he was “confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22).

It follows that suffering is not a refutation of anything. It is frequently a confirmation of everything we say we believe.

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