Q & A 1
“Is the virgin birth necessary? What is at stake in affirming or denying it beyond the method God chose to bring Christ into the world?”
Yes. Salvation is at stake from the forgiveness of sin to the continued forgiveness of sin. The integrity of the biblical text is at stake. Understanding and belief in the supernatural is at stake.
What has influenced the questioning of the virgin birth in our time?
Worthy reading:
Donald Macleod, The Person of Christ
John Piper, Justin Taylor, Voddie Baucham, Mark Driscoll, Tim Keller, The Supremacy of Christ in a Post-Modern World
1. Philosophical world view of modernity
- No super-natural
- Only history
- Jesus Seminar set the standard for mainline Christianity’s take on Jesus
2. The integrity of the text and belief
Matthew 1:23 from Isaiah 7:14
Mark Driscoll:
“If the virgin birth of Jesus is untrue, then the story of Jesus changes greatly; we would have a sexually promiscuous young woman lying about God’s miraculous hand in the birth of her son, raising that son to declare he was God, and then joining his religion. But if Mary is nothing more than a sinful con artist then neither she nor her son Jesus should be trusted. Because both the clear teachings of Scripture about the beginning of Jesus’ earthly life and the character of his mother are at stake, we must contend for the virgin birth of Jesus Christ.” (The Supremacy of Christ in a Postmodern World, 136)
The text means what Matthew meant for it to mean: Jesus was born of a virgin.
“First-century folk knew every bit as well as we do that babies are produced by sexual intercourse. When, in Matthew’s version of the story, Joseph heard about Mary’s pregnancy, his problem arose not because he didn’t know the facts of life, but because he did.” (Who Was Jesus? 78)
3. What is at stake?
1. The virgin birth affirms the supernatural
Since when did we have to prove the faith as part of the Great Commission?
2. The virgin birth shows that salvation must ultimately come from the Lord
Galatians 4:4-5
Man can not save himself.
God had promised that the “seed” of a woman (Genesis 3:15) would ultimately destroy the serpent, so God brought it about by his own power, not through mere human effort.
“The virgin birth of Christ is an unmistakable reminder that salvation can never come through human effort, but must be the work of God himself.”
- Man cannot do enough to save himself
- Man must not try to save himself with mere effort at holiness, but lean on Christ’s
sufficiency and trust in him for salvation
- Man must not try to keep his salvation with mere human effort at holiness, but as
we received Christ Jesus as Lord we continue to live in him by that same faith.
3. The virgin birth made possible the uniting of full deity and full humanity in one person
“Jesus is fully human and fully God and will be so forever”
4. The virgin birth makes possible Jesus’ true humanity without inherited sin
Luke 1:35
- Jesus is called holy because of being conceived of the Holy Spirit
“All humans have inherited and legal guilt and a corrupt moral nature from their first father, Adam (inherited or original sin). But the fact that Jesus did not have a human father means that the line of decent from Adam is partially interrupted. Jesus did not descend from Adam in exactly the same way in which every other human being has descended from Adam. And this helps us to understand why the legal guilt and moral corruption that belongs to all other human beings did not belong to Christ.” – Wayne Grudem
Why did Jesus not inherit a sinful nature from Mary?
- The Roman Catholic Church answers this question by saying that Mary was free from
sin.
- The Scriptures do not teach this anywhere.
- The best solution is to say that the work of the Holy Spirit in Mary must have
prevented not only the transmission of sin from Joseph (because Jesus had no
human father) but also, in a miraculous way, the transmission of sin from Mary:
Luke 1:35 “…therefore the child to be born will be called holy.”
5. The virgin birth makes us rely on the text to determine truth and not science, logic or reason
The best reason for believing this doctrine is simply because the Scriptures teach it.
To believe it impossible for Jesus to be conceived and born of a virgin is to confess one’s own unbelief in the God of the bible.
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Thursday, December 18, 2008
The Second Advent of Jesus Christ
The Coming of the Lord
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
Background
Paul, Silas and Timothy head out on the second missionary journey. They are prevented by the Holy Spirit from preaching in certain regions, so in the night the Lord gives a vision of a man in Macedonia calling out for help. So Paul concludes that they are to preach in Macedonia.
They set out and arrive in Philippi, and Lydia is converted with her whole household.
The crew does some good ministry by relieving a young girl of a demonic power to tell the future, and they are cast in prison as Roman citizens with no trial.
As they are worshipping in prison, the Lord shakes the prison and they are released but they do not leave. The jailer is about to commit suicide when Paul and Silas let the man know that no one has escaped.
The jailer take them out and asks what he needs to do to be saved, they tell him, he believes and his whole house and they are baptized. The next morning the magistrates escort them out of the city. On the way out they visit Lydia and the newly planted church at Philippi, and they are off.
Then they enter Thessalonica. Here Paul preaches for 3 Sabbaths. Some believe, but the Jews are jealous and stir up a riot. The new church planted there rushes Paul and Silas off to Berea.
Paul then goes to Athens, and from there he goes to Corinth from where he pens the letter to the first letter to the Thessalonians.
The Jews there had tried to impugn Paul’s character by trying to pass him off as a charlatan common in the day (wandering preachers of philosophy etc. that seek to make money off of people).
Paul wrote do defend him work among them and to encourage his friends there to stand fast in the face of such persecution.
Some of the people needed instruction on behavior typical for a Hellenized Roman city, but a large chunk is devoted to dealing with the Lord’s Second Advent.
Some were waiting for the Lord by not working and depending on others to take care of them.
Some were trying to figure out exactly when he was coming.
Some were even beginning to hold their leaders in a state of low opinion because of their zeal on the issue, and Paul reminds them to hold their leaders in high regard.
But one issue is dealt with in order to bring encouragement to some.
These precious new believers were expecting the Lord. Jesus would come and take them all to be with himself. But some of them had died, and that raised a problem for the survivors.
Did it mean that deceased would miss their share in the events of that great day?
Did their questions or the deaths of their family and friends discredit the Lord’s coming in any way?
Paul wrote to set their minds at rest and give them some true teaching on the Lord’s Second Advent and to instruct them to encourage each other with this truth.
How does Paul encourage them?
1. Death is not the end, but part of the continuation of eternal life v. 13
“Asleep”
Items worthy of note:
1.1 The word used here is usually used in the perfect tense, but here Paul uses the
the present tense to show their current state, not their permanent state.
- These dear people are not forever departed, but are in the current state of
being with Christ apart from them.
1.2 Our word cemetery is derived from the word that Paul used here.
- This is a place where people are in their temporary state.
1.3 The use of “asleep” rather than death is intentional by Paul to communicate a
beautiful truth:
“For Christians death is no longer the adversary whom no person can resist, that
tyrant who brings all worthwhile existence to a horribly final end. Death has been
overcome by the risen Lord, and that has transformed the whole situation for those
who are in him.” – Leon Morris
1.3.1 Death no longer holds mastery over us
2.3.2 Death is not our end; it is gateway to more Jesus
3.3.3 We do not fear death, but we can risk all for the sake of knowing more of
Jesus
1 Corinthians 15:54b-55 “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”
Philippians 1:21-23 “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain… I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better.”
2. Our hope rests on Christ’s death and resurrection v. 14a
Our hope is not the result of speculation or some philosophical deduction.
Our hope is rooted in the historical resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
Two truths to note:
2.1 Jesus died, he did not sleep
“Paul speaks of Christ not as sleeping, but as dying. In the NT there are two distinct strands of teaching about death. On the one hand it is the most natural of all things and is an inevitable part of the conditions of our earthly existence. On the other hand it is completely unnatural, a horror, the result of sin (Wages of Sin by Leon Morris). Christ in his death bore the wages of sin. He endured the worst that death can possible be. Thereby he transformed the whole position of those who are in him. It is because there was not mitigation of the horror of death for him that there is no horror in death for his people. For them it is but sleep.” – Leon Morris
2.2 Jesus rose from the dead
- Jesus resurrection demonstrates that death is conquered
“If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost” (1 Corinthians 15:17-18).
- Jesus resurrection is the demonstration of the divine nature of the gospel
- Jesus resurrection is the guarantee of the Christian hope
3. Jesus comes to raise the sleeping saints and take his living saints to be with him forever v. 14b-15, 16, 17
Paul does not mention the resurrection of those in Christ; the assumption is that this is taken for granted because Paul had already given some instruction this point.
What worried the Thessalonians was not whether their friends and family would rise, but if they would get to share in the great events of the great and glorious day.
We all get to participate in that glorious day!
Note:
- This is from the Lord’s direct teaching (John 21:25 tells us that not everything Jesus
said was written by the gospel writers)
- It is a foregone conclusion that those asleep are coming with the Lord when he
comes.
- The dead in Christ are not missed, but they rise first
- Those alive are caught up with Jesus and the coming saints
- We will be reunited with our family and friend
“caught up together”
- We will be united with Christ forever
“So we will always be with the Lord”
- This happens on Satan’s turf displaying Jesus’ dominance and victory
“meet him in the air”
- Satan is called the Prince of the power of the air in Ephesians 2
- This happens with a sudden catching away or “rapture”
- Note the rapture is happing simultaneously with the Second Advent
4. The Lord himself is coming v. 16
- It will be audible and visible
- Cry of command
- Voice of an archangel
- Sound of the trumpet of God
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
Background
Paul, Silas and Timothy head out on the second missionary journey. They are prevented by the Holy Spirit from preaching in certain regions, so in the night the Lord gives a vision of a man in Macedonia calling out for help. So Paul concludes that they are to preach in Macedonia.
They set out and arrive in Philippi, and Lydia is converted with her whole household.
The crew does some good ministry by relieving a young girl of a demonic power to tell the future, and they are cast in prison as Roman citizens with no trial.
As they are worshipping in prison, the Lord shakes the prison and they are released but they do not leave. The jailer is about to commit suicide when Paul and Silas let the man know that no one has escaped.
The jailer take them out and asks what he needs to do to be saved, they tell him, he believes and his whole house and they are baptized. The next morning the magistrates escort them out of the city. On the way out they visit Lydia and the newly planted church at Philippi, and they are off.
Then they enter Thessalonica. Here Paul preaches for 3 Sabbaths. Some believe, but the Jews are jealous and stir up a riot. The new church planted there rushes Paul and Silas off to Berea.
Paul then goes to Athens, and from there he goes to Corinth from where he pens the letter to the first letter to the Thessalonians.
The Jews there had tried to impugn Paul’s character by trying to pass him off as a charlatan common in the day (wandering preachers of philosophy etc. that seek to make money off of people).
Paul wrote do defend him work among them and to encourage his friends there to stand fast in the face of such persecution.
Some of the people needed instruction on behavior typical for a Hellenized Roman city, but a large chunk is devoted to dealing with the Lord’s Second Advent.
Some were waiting for the Lord by not working and depending on others to take care of them.
Some were trying to figure out exactly when he was coming.
Some were even beginning to hold their leaders in a state of low opinion because of their zeal on the issue, and Paul reminds them to hold their leaders in high regard.
But one issue is dealt with in order to bring encouragement to some.
These precious new believers were expecting the Lord. Jesus would come and take them all to be with himself. But some of them had died, and that raised a problem for the survivors.
Did it mean that deceased would miss their share in the events of that great day?
Did their questions or the deaths of their family and friends discredit the Lord’s coming in any way?
Paul wrote to set their minds at rest and give them some true teaching on the Lord’s Second Advent and to instruct them to encourage each other with this truth.
How does Paul encourage them?
1. Death is not the end, but part of the continuation of eternal life v. 13
“Asleep”
Items worthy of note:
1.1 The word used here is usually used in the perfect tense, but here Paul uses the
the present tense to show their current state, not their permanent state.
- These dear people are not forever departed, but are in the current state of
being with Christ apart from them.
1.2 Our word cemetery is derived from the word that Paul used here.
- This is a place where people are in their temporary state.
1.3 The use of “asleep” rather than death is intentional by Paul to communicate a
beautiful truth:
“For Christians death is no longer the adversary whom no person can resist, that
tyrant who brings all worthwhile existence to a horribly final end. Death has been
overcome by the risen Lord, and that has transformed the whole situation for those
who are in him.” – Leon Morris
1.3.1 Death no longer holds mastery over us
2.3.2 Death is not our end; it is gateway to more Jesus
3.3.3 We do not fear death, but we can risk all for the sake of knowing more of
Jesus
1 Corinthians 15:54b-55 “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”
Philippians 1:21-23 “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain… I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better.”
2. Our hope rests on Christ’s death and resurrection v. 14a
Our hope is not the result of speculation or some philosophical deduction.
Our hope is rooted in the historical resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
Two truths to note:
2.1 Jesus died, he did not sleep
“Paul speaks of Christ not as sleeping, but as dying. In the NT there are two distinct strands of teaching about death. On the one hand it is the most natural of all things and is an inevitable part of the conditions of our earthly existence. On the other hand it is completely unnatural, a horror, the result of sin (Wages of Sin by Leon Morris). Christ in his death bore the wages of sin. He endured the worst that death can possible be. Thereby he transformed the whole position of those who are in him. It is because there was not mitigation of the horror of death for him that there is no horror in death for his people. For them it is but sleep.” – Leon Morris
2.2 Jesus rose from the dead
- Jesus resurrection demonstrates that death is conquered
“If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost” (1 Corinthians 15:17-18).
- Jesus resurrection is the demonstration of the divine nature of the gospel
- Jesus resurrection is the guarantee of the Christian hope
3. Jesus comes to raise the sleeping saints and take his living saints to be with him forever v. 14b-15, 16, 17
Paul does not mention the resurrection of those in Christ; the assumption is that this is taken for granted because Paul had already given some instruction this point.
What worried the Thessalonians was not whether their friends and family would rise, but if they would get to share in the great events of the great and glorious day.
We all get to participate in that glorious day!
Note:
- This is from the Lord’s direct teaching (John 21:25 tells us that not everything Jesus
said was written by the gospel writers)
- It is a foregone conclusion that those asleep are coming with the Lord when he
comes.
- The dead in Christ are not missed, but they rise first
- Those alive are caught up with Jesus and the coming saints
- We will be reunited with our family and friend
“caught up together”
- We will be united with Christ forever
“So we will always be with the Lord”
- This happens on Satan’s turf displaying Jesus’ dominance and victory
“meet him in the air”
- Satan is called the Prince of the power of the air in Ephesians 2
- This happens with a sudden catching away or “rapture”
- Note the rapture is happing simultaneously with the Second Advent
4. The Lord himself is coming v. 16
- It will be audible and visible
- Cry of command
- Voice of an archangel
- Sound of the trumpet of God
Sunday, November 16, 2008
11/16/2008 - Salvation: the Work of Adoption
Salvation, the work of Adoption
Romans 8:15, 23
Galatians 4:4-7
Romans 9:4
Ephesians 1:5
Definition: Adoption is an act of God whereby he makes us members of his family.
The privileges of adoption are seen first in how we relate to God and second in how we relate to each other.
How do we experience the privileges of relating to God in Adoption?
1. We are led by the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:12-16)
- We can overcome sin and don’t have to be enslaved to sin
- Actively engage with spiritual disciplines
- Resist by considering Christ Jesus
- We can have sweet assurance of being God’s child
- Internal peace
- External rest
- We can, being led by the Spirit, walk in God’s mission
- Life ministry (what is your passion?)
- Give
2. We know that God loves and understand us (1 John 3:1-3; Psalm 103:13-14)
- He knows my ability to withstand temptation and will not let me be
tempted beyond what I can escape by his grace 1 Corinthians 10:13
3. We know that God will take care of our needs (Matthew 6:31-33)
- We can relax
- We don’t have to be anxious anymore as a non child would
- We are free from inferior pursuits to pursue God’s Kingdom
- Rid yourself of pursuing material gains for themselves
- Rid yourself of pursuing an education for education’s sake
- Rather, educate for sustaining yourself in God’s mission
4. We know that God gives us good gifts (Matthew 7:11)
- Come and ask Father for good things (good for him and us)
- Live in hope and expectation
5. We can imitate our Father as beloved children (Ephesians 5:1)
- Serve each other in the church
- Love each other
- Preach the gospel of the Kingdom
- Heal the wounds of a fallen culture
How do we experience the privileges of relating to each other in adoption?
1. All Christians are members of God’s family (1 Timothy 5:1-2)
- This destroys competition among churches
- This destroys discrimination among Christians of other races or socio-economic
backgrounds
- This destroys speaking evil against each other because we are family James
4:11
Romans 8:15, 23
Galatians 4:4-7
Romans 9:4
Ephesians 1:5
Definition: Adoption is an act of God whereby he makes us members of his family.
The privileges of adoption are seen first in how we relate to God and second in how we relate to each other.
How do we experience the privileges of relating to God in Adoption?
1. We are led by the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:12-16)
- We can overcome sin and don’t have to be enslaved to sin
- Actively engage with spiritual disciplines
- Resist by considering Christ Jesus
- We can have sweet assurance of being God’s child
- Internal peace
- External rest
- We can, being led by the Spirit, walk in God’s mission
- Life ministry (what is your passion?)
- Give
2. We know that God loves and understand us (1 John 3:1-3; Psalm 103:13-14)
- He knows my ability to withstand temptation and will not let me be
tempted beyond what I can escape by his grace 1 Corinthians 10:13
3. We know that God will take care of our needs (Matthew 6:31-33)
- We can relax
- We don’t have to be anxious anymore as a non child would
- We are free from inferior pursuits to pursue God’s Kingdom
- Rid yourself of pursuing material gains for themselves
- Rid yourself of pursuing an education for education’s sake
- Rather, educate for sustaining yourself in God’s mission
4. We know that God gives us good gifts (Matthew 7:11)
- Come and ask Father for good things (good for him and us)
- Live in hope and expectation
5. We can imitate our Father as beloved children (Ephesians 5:1)
- Serve each other in the church
- Love each other
- Preach the gospel of the Kingdom
- Heal the wounds of a fallen culture
How do we experience the privileges of relating to each other in adoption?
1. All Christians are members of God’s family (1 Timothy 5:1-2)
- This destroys competition among churches
- This destroys discrimination among Christians of other races or socio-economic
backgrounds
- This destroys speaking evil against each other because we are family James
4:11
Monday, November 10, 2008
11/09/2008 - Salvation: The Work of Justification
Salvation: The Work of Justification
John 17:19
- Jesus goes to the Cross to make us Holy
John 17:19
Application:
Romans 5:6-8
Jesus loves us
We have confidence in our relationship to God that he is not out to get me but loves me
Justification: Romans 3:21-26
Definition: To make right or just, to impute righteousness as God's judging and saving activity in relation to persons, declare righteous, put right with himself - Jesus goes to the cross so that God can declare us to be just in his sight
Romans 3:24
Application:
We can have a real relationship with God
- We call him Father
- He calls us sons and daughters
We are free from the consequences of sin (death and hell)
- We have love instead of wrath
- We have good instead of destruction
- Our fighting against sin matters and we discipline ourselves spiritually - Jesus goes to the cross so that God can impute Christ's righteousness to us
Impute: to ascribe to or charge (a person) with an act or quality because of the conduct of another over whom one has control or for whose acts or conduct one is responsible.
2 Corinthians 5:21
Application:
He gives us his Holy Spirit to live in us
We are no longer slaves to sin
We can't be accused by the enemy - Justification comes to us entirely by God's grace, not on account of any merit in ourselves
Romans 3:20, 24, 27-28
Application:
My actions never save me, but they become evidence of me having Christ's righteousness
I must live in constant thanksgiving
- Thanksgiving must be my attitude not entitlement
- (illustrate with my interaction with Fred, Al, Tom)
I must come and worship
- Daily in my living
- Weekly with the gathered righteous
Friday, October 31, 2008
11/02/2008 - The Life of David Brainerd
David Brainerd, November 2, 2008
The Life of David Brainerd, ed. Norman Pettit, The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Vol. 7, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1985).
The Life of David Brainerd by John Piper
http://www.wholesomewords.org/missions/ibrainerd.html
Beginnings, Historical Setting and Summary
Born: April 20, 1718
Birthplace: Haddam, Connecticut
Notable Christian leaders who were young men and children when Brainerd was born:
1. Jonathan Edwards and John Wesley were 14
2. Benjamin Franklin was 12
3. George Whitefield was 3
David Brainerd would live through the movements of the “Great Awakening” in the 1730’s and 1740’s.
Brainerd died of “Consumption” or tuberculosis at Jonathan Edward’s house on October 9, 1747.
Brainerd had some hard years emotionally growing up.
His father, Hezekiah and a Connecticut Legislator, died when David was only 9 years old. (Just stating this fact one can get the taste of God’s grace to this young man in the providential passing to prepare David for the struggles of his missionary work)
Hezekiah was a very pious Puritan and operated a strict home. They observed days of private fasting for their spiritual welfare.
David was number 6 and he had three more siblings born after him. He was the 3rd son.
His mother, Dorothy, brought a little boy from a previous marriage into the home, so there were 12 folks in all. 10 children and 2 parents.
David’s mother would die when he was 14.
David’s family suffered from a history of early deaths and dark depression.
Brothers Nehemiah died at 32 and Israel died at 23
His sister Jerusha died at 34
David died at 29
David, having lost both his parents very early in life, seemed to slip into a dark battle with depression. He records in his diary, “I was, I think, from my youth something sober and inclined rather to melancholy than the other extreme (p. 101).”
After David’s mother died, he moved in with his sister, Jerusha.
At 19 David inherited a farm. He tried hard, but he was not cut out for farming. He wanted to get an education. He longed for what he describes as a “liberal education”. That being in the liberal arts.
David’s Conversion
After a year at farming, David moved back to East Haddam and started preparation to enter Yale. He was 20 years old.
He had made a commitment, while on the farm, to enter the ministry. Keep in mind that he has not yet been converted by the gospel.
He has had a Puritan upbringing and had described his religion as “careful and serious but not having any true grace.”
That year he moved back, at the age of 20, from the farm he had read through the bible 2 times. He was fighting with God on some doctrinal levels.
He had noticed that he was given to legalism.
He rebelled at the idea of original (inherited) sin.
He rebelled at the idea of the sovereignty of God.
He rebelled against the idea that there was nothing he could do to “commend himself to God.”
He came to the miraculous day in the following way on the Lord’s Day, July 12, 1739 (a lengthy quote):
“All of my good frames were but self-righteousness, not bottomed on a desire for the glory of God (p. 103).”
“There was no more goodness in my praying than there would be in my paddling with my hands in the water because my prayers were not performed from any true love or regard to God. I never once prayed for the glory of God (p. 134).”
“I never once intended his honor and glory. I had never once acted for God in all my devotions. I used to charge them with sin because of wanderings and vain thoughts, and not because I never had any regard in them to the glory of God (p. 136).”
As he was trying to pray one day…
“As I was walking in a dark thick grave, unspeakable glory seemed to open to the view and apprehension of my soul. It was a new inward apprehension or view that I had of God; such as I never had before, nor anything that I had the least remembrance of it. So that I stood still and wondered and admired. I had now no particular apprehension of any one person of the Trinity, either the Father, Son, or the Holy Spirit, but it appeared to be divine glory and splendor that I then beheld. And my soul rejoiced with joy unspeakable to see such a God, such a glorious divine being, and I was inwardly pleased and satisfied that he should be God over all forever and ever. My soul was so captivated and delighted with the excellency, the loveliness and the greatness and other perfections of God that I was even swallowed up in him, at least to the degree that I had no thought, as I remember at first, about my own salvation or scarce that there was such a creature as I. Thus the Lord, I trust, brought me to a hearty desire to exalt him, to set him on the throne and to see first his Kingdom, principally and ultimately to aim at his honor and glory as the King and Sovereign of the universe, which is the foundation of the religion of Jesus. I felt myself in a new world (p. 138-140).”
Notice in his words what he says is the foundation of the religion of Jesus: “… principally and ultimately to aim at his honor and glory as the King and Sovereign of the universe…”
Brainerd had read his bible through 2 times this year of his life. He got the point of salvation: the capturing of honor and glory for Father and Son as the Sovereign God of all that is. This being what we discovered last week.
This would be the aim of his missionary work to the Indians. The honor of Jesus Christ.
This was the result of his conversion and would b the aim of his ministry.
Two months after his conversion he prepared to enter Yale in order to prepare for the ministry.
Yale
Yale was hard. Brainerd had to deal with the hazing, the spiritual climate (ripe for the rumblings of the “Great Awakening”), studies and health crises (measles, and the onset of Tuberculosis that would ultimately claim his life 7 years later)
The spiritual climate would get David in trouble at Yale. The spiritual climate was one of stagnation and religion without any life.
However, men like George Whitefield (extemporaneous speaker, Calvinist, evangelist) had been speaking at Yale, and the emerging work of the Holy Spirit was rumbling through the campus.
The faculty invited Jonathan Edwards there to preach in hopes that he would squelch some of the fervor of the students.
Edward’s sermon that would eventually become some of his greatest work in distinguishing a move of the Holy Spirit (Of Religious Affections), did not squelch the students, but encouraged the fire of the students.
His sermon was titled “The distinguishing Marks of a Work of the Spirit of God”.
Edwards argued that what was happening was a real move of the Spirit of God.
The morning of Edward’s sermon the college had adopted a policy that said “If any student of this college shall directly or indirectly say, that the Rector, either of the Trustees or tutors are hypocrites, carnal or unconverted men, he shall for the first offense make a public confession in the hall, and for the second offense be expelled (p. 41).”
Well, Brainerd was in the crown hearing Edwards speak. Brainerd was top of his class, but in his third year he was expelled for saying of a tutor, Chauncey Whittelsey, that he “has no more grace that a chair.” He also stated that he wondered why the Rector “did not drop down dead for fining students for their evangelical zeal (p. 42, 155).”
Brainerd tried to get back in and make things right. Others fought for him to get in, but to no avail.
It is important to note that this expulsion, although possibly at the hands of a careless word, were used by God to put him in the place where his journal thoughts would affect missions history.
You never know what deed you do intentionally or unintentionally is being used by God to change the world.
So, live with all your might for the glory of God, and even if you make mistakes along the way, Father is working out his salvation plan and working for our good.
Brainerd’s Ministry
In 1742 David Brainerd was licensed to preach by a group of ministers that were sympathetic to the Great Awakening (New Lights).
Jonathan Dickenson, a Presbyterian pastor tried to get Brainerd reinstated in Yale, but was not successful. Upon the failure to get him back into Yale, the suggestion was made that he become a missionary to the Indians.
On November 25, 1742 Brainerd was declared fit for service and appointed as a missionary to the Indians by the Commissioners of the Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge.
Brainerd spent the winter working for a church on Long Island in order to enter the wilderness in the spring.
His first assignment was to the Housatonic Indians 20 miles NW of Stockbridge, Mass.
He arrived April 1, 1743 and preached for 1 year using an interpreter and trying to learn the language.
He was able to start a school for Indian children and translate some of the Psalms (p. 61).
He was reassigned to go to the Indians along the Delaware River in Pennsylvania.
May 1, 1744 he left Kaunaumeek and settled in the Forks of the Delaware.
At the end of the month he went to Newark, NJ and was ordained by the Presbytery on June 11, 1744 (p. 251-252).
He continued his work at the Forks of the Delaware for 1 year.
June 19, 1745 he made his first preaching tour to the Indians at Crossweeksung, NJ.
Crossweeksung was the place that God moved with amazing power and brought salvation to the Indians.
Within the year there were 130 persons in the growing body of the church among the Indians (p. 376).
This whole community of Christians moved from Crossweeksung to Cranberry in May 1746 to have their own land and village.
Brainerd stayed with these Indians until he was too sick to minister to them anymore.
November 1746 Brainerd left Cranberry to spend four months trying to get well in Elizabethtown at the home of Jonathan Dickenson.
On March 20, 1747 Brainerd made one last visit to his Indian friends and then rode to the house of Jonathan Edwards in Northampton, Mass on May 28, 1747.
He made one trip to Boston during the summer, but he returned and died of Tuberculosis in Edwards’ house October 9, 1747.
David Brainerd lived 29 years. 8 of his years were as a follower of Jesus Christ. 4 of his years were spent as a missionary.
Brainerd established schools among the Indians.
Brainerd saw the church emerge from the Indians and grow.
Brainerd was a recipient of the super-natural as God moved among the Indians.
The Lord testified to his ministry in the eyes of the Indians.
F.W. Boreham recalls a story of this:
“But when the braves drew closer to Brainerd's tent, they saw the paleface on his knees. And as he prayed, suddenly a rattlesnake slipped to his side, lifted up its ugly head to strike, flicked its forked tongue almost in his face, and then without any apparent reason, glided swiftly away into the brushwood. ‘The Great Spirit is with the paleface!’ the Indians said; and thus they accorded him a prophet's welcome.”
A very good question is: How has this man’s life made the impact that it has.
1. Jonathan Edwards published his Brainerd’s diaries as the “Life of Brainerd” in 1749.
2. “Brainerd’s life is a vivid, powerful testimony to the truth that God can and does use weak, sick, discouraged, beat-down, lonely, struggling saints, who cry to him day and night, to accomplish amazing things for his glory.” – John Piper
David Brainerd’s life has impacted men such as:
William Carey who regarded “Life of Brainerd” as sacred text
David Livingston
Jim Elliot
This man’s life has affected me as well. I’m not in the vain of these men, but I’m an example that God can and does use weak, sick, discouraged, beat-down, struggling saints who cry to him day and night to accomplish amazing things for his glory.
What can we learn from David Brainerd’s life?
Brainerd teaches us to fight the fight of the faith well in spite of our ailments
May 1744 “Rode several hours in the rain through the howling wilderness, although I was so disordered in body that little or nothing but blood came from me (p. 247).”
“In the afternoon my pain increased exceedingly and was obliged to betake myself to bed…was sometime almost bereaved of the exercise of my reason by the extremity of the pain (p. 253).”
Edwards comments the week before he died, “He told me it was impossible for any to conceive of the distress he felt in his breast. He manifested much concern lest he should dishonor God by impatience under his extreme agony; which was such that he said the thought of enduring it one minute longer was almost insupportable.”
We count our ailments as reminders that we need grace to sustain us (2 Cor 12:9)
We count our ailments as having a divine purpose beyond the immediate (2 Cor 12)
- For Paul it was humility
Brainerd teaches us that how we live is as important as what we do
Perseverance
Maintaining theological soundness
Live with all one’s might while they live
Brainerd teaches us that short life can be as effectual as long life when spent pursuing God’s Kingdom and his righteousness
We must not assume that long life is fulfilling and short life is a tragedy
Brainerd teaches us that life/ministry difficulties serve homeward purposes of preparing us to inherit the Kingdom
“Such fatigues and hardships as these serve to wean me more from the earth; and I trust, will make heaven the sweeter. Formerly, when I was thus exposed to cold, rain, etc., I was ready to please myself with the thoughts of enjoying a comfortable house, a warm fire, and other outward comforts; but now these have less place in my heart (through the grace of God) and my eye is more to God for comfort. In this world I expect tribulation; and it does not now, as formerly, appear strange to me; I don’t in such seasons of difficulty flatter myself that it will be better hereafter; but rather think how much worse it might be; how much greater trials others of God’s children have endured; and how much greater are yet perhaps reserved for me. Blessed be god that the makes is the comfort to me, under my sharpest trials; and scarce ever lets these thoughts be attended with terror or melancholy; but they are attended frequently with great joy (p. 274).”
We must remember that this life is not all there is
We are pilgrims here, and this is not home
Difficulty is part of sharing in Christ
Brainerd teaches us that waning in concern for people is a normal reality for people who love God and seek to make him known to people
September 18, 1742 “Felt some compassion for souls, meekness, gentleness and love towards all mankind than ever (p. 181).”
December 26, 1742 “Felt much sweetness and tenderness in prayer, especially my whole soul seemed to love my worst enemies, and was enabled to pray for those that are strangers and enemies, and was enabled to pray for those that are strangers and enemies to God with a great degree of softness and pathetic fervor (p. 196).”
July 2 1745 “Felt my heart drawn out after God in prayer, almost all the forenoon; especially while riding; And in the evening, could not help crying to God for those poor Indians; and after I went to bed my heart continued to go out to God for them, till I dropped asleep. Oh, blessed be the God that I may pray (p. 272).”
Don’t allow a waning desire for people to affect our desire to do ministry, keep doing ministry
Brainerd teaches us that the conversion of the Lost is the Lord’s work as we are means in that work in our preaching and serving
Brainerd saw the conversion of many, but not at will, but as the Lord would move. He stated:
“My soul seemed to rely wholly upon God for success, in the diligent and faithful use of means. Saw, with greatest certainty, that the arm of the Lord must be revealed for the help of these poor heathen, if ever they were delivered from the bondage of the powers of darkness." – Jeremy Lantz
We can’t avoid means. Our hands and feet are given to work, but they are not idols.
“Work with all your might, but trust not the least in your work.” – George Muller
The Life of David Brainerd, ed. Norman Pettit, The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Vol. 7, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1985).
The Life of David Brainerd by John Piper
http://www.wholesomewords.org/missions/ibrainerd.html
Beginnings, Historical Setting and Summary
Born: April 20, 1718
Birthplace: Haddam, Connecticut
Notable Christian leaders who were young men and children when Brainerd was born:
1. Jonathan Edwards and John Wesley were 14
2. Benjamin Franklin was 12
3. George Whitefield was 3
David Brainerd would live through the movements of the “Great Awakening” in the 1730’s and 1740’s.
Brainerd died of “Consumption” or tuberculosis at Jonathan Edward’s house on October 9, 1747.
Brainerd had some hard years emotionally growing up.
His father, Hezekiah and a Connecticut Legislator, died when David was only 9 years old. (Just stating this fact one can get the taste of God’s grace to this young man in the providential passing to prepare David for the struggles of his missionary work)
Hezekiah was a very pious Puritan and operated a strict home. They observed days of private fasting for their spiritual welfare.
David was number 6 and he had three more siblings born after him. He was the 3rd son.
His mother, Dorothy, brought a little boy from a previous marriage into the home, so there were 12 folks in all. 10 children and 2 parents.
David’s mother would die when he was 14.
David’s family suffered from a history of early deaths and dark depression.
Brothers Nehemiah died at 32 and Israel died at 23
His sister Jerusha died at 34
David died at 29
David, having lost both his parents very early in life, seemed to slip into a dark battle with depression. He records in his diary, “I was, I think, from my youth something sober and inclined rather to melancholy than the other extreme (p. 101).”
After David’s mother died, he moved in with his sister, Jerusha.
At 19 David inherited a farm. He tried hard, but he was not cut out for farming. He wanted to get an education. He longed for what he describes as a “liberal education”. That being in the liberal arts.
David’s Conversion
After a year at farming, David moved back to East Haddam and started preparation to enter Yale. He was 20 years old.
He had made a commitment, while on the farm, to enter the ministry. Keep in mind that he has not yet been converted by the gospel.
He has had a Puritan upbringing and had described his religion as “careful and serious but not having any true grace.”
That year he moved back, at the age of 20, from the farm he had read through the bible 2 times. He was fighting with God on some doctrinal levels.
He had noticed that he was given to legalism.
He rebelled at the idea of original (inherited) sin.
He rebelled at the idea of the sovereignty of God.
He rebelled against the idea that there was nothing he could do to “commend himself to God.”
He came to the miraculous day in the following way on the Lord’s Day, July 12, 1739 (a lengthy quote):
“All of my good frames were but self-righteousness, not bottomed on a desire for the glory of God (p. 103).”
“There was no more goodness in my praying than there would be in my paddling with my hands in the water because my prayers were not performed from any true love or regard to God. I never once prayed for the glory of God (p. 134).”
“I never once intended his honor and glory. I had never once acted for God in all my devotions. I used to charge them with sin because of wanderings and vain thoughts, and not because I never had any regard in them to the glory of God (p. 136).”
As he was trying to pray one day…
“As I was walking in a dark thick grave, unspeakable glory seemed to open to the view and apprehension of my soul. It was a new inward apprehension or view that I had of God; such as I never had before, nor anything that I had the least remembrance of it. So that I stood still and wondered and admired. I had now no particular apprehension of any one person of the Trinity, either the Father, Son, or the Holy Spirit, but it appeared to be divine glory and splendor that I then beheld. And my soul rejoiced with joy unspeakable to see such a God, such a glorious divine being, and I was inwardly pleased and satisfied that he should be God over all forever and ever. My soul was so captivated and delighted with the excellency, the loveliness and the greatness and other perfections of God that I was even swallowed up in him, at least to the degree that I had no thought, as I remember at first, about my own salvation or scarce that there was such a creature as I. Thus the Lord, I trust, brought me to a hearty desire to exalt him, to set him on the throne and to see first his Kingdom, principally and ultimately to aim at his honor and glory as the King and Sovereign of the universe, which is the foundation of the religion of Jesus. I felt myself in a new world (p. 138-140).”
Notice in his words what he says is the foundation of the religion of Jesus: “… principally and ultimately to aim at his honor and glory as the King and Sovereign of the universe…”
Brainerd had read his bible through 2 times this year of his life. He got the point of salvation: the capturing of honor and glory for Father and Son as the Sovereign God of all that is. This being what we discovered last week.
This would be the aim of his missionary work to the Indians. The honor of Jesus Christ.
This was the result of his conversion and would b the aim of his ministry.
Two months after his conversion he prepared to enter Yale in order to prepare for the ministry.
Yale
Yale was hard. Brainerd had to deal with the hazing, the spiritual climate (ripe for the rumblings of the “Great Awakening”), studies and health crises (measles, and the onset of Tuberculosis that would ultimately claim his life 7 years later)
The spiritual climate would get David in trouble at Yale. The spiritual climate was one of stagnation and religion without any life.
However, men like George Whitefield (extemporaneous speaker, Calvinist, evangelist) had been speaking at Yale, and the emerging work of the Holy Spirit was rumbling through the campus.
The faculty invited Jonathan Edwards there to preach in hopes that he would squelch some of the fervor of the students.
Edward’s sermon that would eventually become some of his greatest work in distinguishing a move of the Holy Spirit (Of Religious Affections), did not squelch the students, but encouraged the fire of the students.
His sermon was titled “The distinguishing Marks of a Work of the Spirit of God”.
Edwards argued that what was happening was a real move of the Spirit of God.
The morning of Edward’s sermon the college had adopted a policy that said “If any student of this college shall directly or indirectly say, that the Rector, either of the Trustees or tutors are hypocrites, carnal or unconverted men, he shall for the first offense make a public confession in the hall, and for the second offense be expelled (p. 41).”
Well, Brainerd was in the crown hearing Edwards speak. Brainerd was top of his class, but in his third year he was expelled for saying of a tutor, Chauncey Whittelsey, that he “has no more grace that a chair.” He also stated that he wondered why the Rector “did not drop down dead for fining students for their evangelical zeal (p. 42, 155).”
Brainerd tried to get back in and make things right. Others fought for him to get in, but to no avail.
It is important to note that this expulsion, although possibly at the hands of a careless word, were used by God to put him in the place where his journal thoughts would affect missions history.
You never know what deed you do intentionally or unintentionally is being used by God to change the world.
So, live with all your might for the glory of God, and even if you make mistakes along the way, Father is working out his salvation plan and working for our good.
Brainerd’s Ministry
In 1742 David Brainerd was licensed to preach by a group of ministers that were sympathetic to the Great Awakening (New Lights).
Jonathan Dickenson, a Presbyterian pastor tried to get Brainerd reinstated in Yale, but was not successful. Upon the failure to get him back into Yale, the suggestion was made that he become a missionary to the Indians.
On November 25, 1742 Brainerd was declared fit for service and appointed as a missionary to the Indians by the Commissioners of the Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge.
Brainerd spent the winter working for a church on Long Island in order to enter the wilderness in the spring.
His first assignment was to the Housatonic Indians 20 miles NW of Stockbridge, Mass.
He arrived April 1, 1743 and preached for 1 year using an interpreter and trying to learn the language.
He was able to start a school for Indian children and translate some of the Psalms (p. 61).
He was reassigned to go to the Indians along the Delaware River in Pennsylvania.
May 1, 1744 he left Kaunaumeek and settled in the Forks of the Delaware.
At the end of the month he went to Newark, NJ and was ordained by the Presbytery on June 11, 1744 (p. 251-252).
He continued his work at the Forks of the Delaware for 1 year.
June 19, 1745 he made his first preaching tour to the Indians at Crossweeksung, NJ.
Crossweeksung was the place that God moved with amazing power and brought salvation to the Indians.
Within the year there were 130 persons in the growing body of the church among the Indians (p. 376).
This whole community of Christians moved from Crossweeksung to Cranberry in May 1746 to have their own land and village.
Brainerd stayed with these Indians until he was too sick to minister to them anymore.
November 1746 Brainerd left Cranberry to spend four months trying to get well in Elizabethtown at the home of Jonathan Dickenson.
On March 20, 1747 Brainerd made one last visit to his Indian friends and then rode to the house of Jonathan Edwards in Northampton, Mass on May 28, 1747.
He made one trip to Boston during the summer, but he returned and died of Tuberculosis in Edwards’ house October 9, 1747.
David Brainerd lived 29 years. 8 of his years were as a follower of Jesus Christ. 4 of his years were spent as a missionary.
Brainerd established schools among the Indians.
Brainerd saw the church emerge from the Indians and grow.
Brainerd was a recipient of the super-natural as God moved among the Indians.
The Lord testified to his ministry in the eyes of the Indians.
F.W. Boreham recalls a story of this:
“But when the braves drew closer to Brainerd's tent, they saw the paleface on his knees. And as he prayed, suddenly a rattlesnake slipped to his side, lifted up its ugly head to strike, flicked its forked tongue almost in his face, and then without any apparent reason, glided swiftly away into the brushwood. ‘The Great Spirit is with the paleface!’ the Indians said; and thus they accorded him a prophet's welcome.”
A very good question is: How has this man’s life made the impact that it has.
1. Jonathan Edwards published his Brainerd’s diaries as the “Life of Brainerd” in 1749.
2. “Brainerd’s life is a vivid, powerful testimony to the truth that God can and does use weak, sick, discouraged, beat-down, lonely, struggling saints, who cry to him day and night, to accomplish amazing things for his glory.” – John Piper
David Brainerd’s life has impacted men such as:
William Carey who regarded “Life of Brainerd” as sacred text
David Livingston
Jim Elliot
This man’s life has affected me as well. I’m not in the vain of these men, but I’m an example that God can and does use weak, sick, discouraged, beat-down, struggling saints who cry to him day and night to accomplish amazing things for his glory.
What can we learn from David Brainerd’s life?
Brainerd teaches us to fight the fight of the faith well in spite of our ailments
May 1744 “Rode several hours in the rain through the howling wilderness, although I was so disordered in body that little or nothing but blood came from me (p. 247).”
“In the afternoon my pain increased exceedingly and was obliged to betake myself to bed…was sometime almost bereaved of the exercise of my reason by the extremity of the pain (p. 253).”
Edwards comments the week before he died, “He told me it was impossible for any to conceive of the distress he felt in his breast. He manifested much concern lest he should dishonor God by impatience under his extreme agony; which was such that he said the thought of enduring it one minute longer was almost insupportable.”
We count our ailments as reminders that we need grace to sustain us (2 Cor 12:9)
We count our ailments as having a divine purpose beyond the immediate (2 Cor 12)
- For Paul it was humility
Brainerd teaches us that how we live is as important as what we do
Perseverance
Maintaining theological soundness
Live with all one’s might while they live
Brainerd teaches us that short life can be as effectual as long life when spent pursuing God’s Kingdom and his righteousness
We must not assume that long life is fulfilling and short life is a tragedy
Brainerd teaches us that life/ministry difficulties serve homeward purposes of preparing us to inherit the Kingdom
“Such fatigues and hardships as these serve to wean me more from the earth; and I trust, will make heaven the sweeter. Formerly, when I was thus exposed to cold, rain, etc., I was ready to please myself with the thoughts of enjoying a comfortable house, a warm fire, and other outward comforts; but now these have less place in my heart (through the grace of God) and my eye is more to God for comfort. In this world I expect tribulation; and it does not now, as formerly, appear strange to me; I don’t in such seasons of difficulty flatter myself that it will be better hereafter; but rather think how much worse it might be; how much greater trials others of God’s children have endured; and how much greater are yet perhaps reserved for me. Blessed be god that the makes is the comfort to me, under my sharpest trials; and scarce ever lets these thoughts be attended with terror or melancholy; but they are attended frequently with great joy (p. 274).”
We must remember that this life is not all there is
We are pilgrims here, and this is not home
Difficulty is part of sharing in Christ
Brainerd teaches us that waning in concern for people is a normal reality for people who love God and seek to make him known to people
September 18, 1742 “Felt some compassion for souls, meekness, gentleness and love towards all mankind than ever (p. 181).”
December 26, 1742 “Felt much sweetness and tenderness in prayer, especially my whole soul seemed to love my worst enemies, and was enabled to pray for those that are strangers and enemies, and was enabled to pray for those that are strangers and enemies to God with a great degree of softness and pathetic fervor (p. 196).”
July 2 1745 “Felt my heart drawn out after God in prayer, almost all the forenoon; especially while riding; And in the evening, could not help crying to God for those poor Indians; and after I went to bed my heart continued to go out to God for them, till I dropped asleep. Oh, blessed be the God that I may pray (p. 272).”
Don’t allow a waning desire for people to affect our desire to do ministry, keep doing ministry
Brainerd teaches us that the conversion of the Lost is the Lord’s work as we are means in that work in our preaching and serving
Brainerd saw the conversion of many, but not at will, but as the Lord would move. He stated:
“My soul seemed to rely wholly upon God for success, in the diligent and faithful use of means. Saw, with greatest certainty, that the arm of the Lord must be revealed for the help of these poor heathen, if ever they were delivered from the bondage of the powers of darkness." – Jeremy Lantz
We can’t avoid means. Our hands and feet are given to work, but they are not idols.
“Work with all your might, but trust not the least in your work.” – George Muller
Friday, October 24, 2008
10/26/2008 - Salvation: Introduction to Purpose
Salvation
John 17:1-2
Jesus is fully man.
Jesus is fully God.
Consequently, Jesus leads us into our discussion of salvation. His teaching will set our course.
Sadly, this has not been the case for much of modern evangelicalism.
It is easy for us to come to salvation and assume that salvation is for us.
Most of our evangelical culture treats salvation as if it were something God has created for us to have and our possessing it is the end and point.
This is evidenced in our emphasis on escaping hell and gaining heaven.
This is evidenced in the appalling lack of theological acumen in the church today because of the over emphasis on getting saved without any sense of discipleship.
The Scriptures guard against that if we will deal with them properly.
I want to help us guard against mistreating the glorious doctrine of salvation by dealing with Jesus on the issue.
Our Foundational statement for understanding the work of salvation:
- Jesus is on a Mission (to) be glorified by the Father as he glorifies the Father (by)
securing some of a fallen humanity that the Father has given the Son through his work on
the cross
1. Jesus is on a mission
- “Father, the hour has come” (perfect / active / indicative)
- Jesus has been speaking of the cross and his death, and this is the event he has in view.
- This is past action that is completed in the indefinite past
- In other words, the appointed hour, the mission’s climax has come.
A. The cross is not a reaction to an unknown series of events.
- God foreknows all things effectively
- “God’s foreknowledge is his foreordination.” – J.I. Packer
B. Jesus coming, living, dying and rising were plan “A” (Acts 4:28)
C. Jesus is in control of history and man’s free actions w/in that history
D. Jesus is still on a mission, and we get to participate
E. All of Jesus’ actions were intentional
What is Jesus’ mission?
2. Jesus’ mission is to be glorified by the Father as he glorifies the Father
- “glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you,”
The vocabulary of “glory” is the vocabulary of honor and shame.
To give one glory is to give honor to.
In this context, the story of redemptive history is vital.
God created everything that is, and it was good.
There was rebellion in heaven, and Satan and his followers were cast into the earth.
Satan tempts our first parents with the prideful temptation to rebel and disobey God under the false premise that they can be like God.
Rather than believe God and trust his good for them, they eat and thus honor the lies of Satan and dishonor their perfect, holy and good God.
Man, in his rebellion, chose Satan over God and death entered the race.
Adam and Eve would suffer separation from God and broken fellowship with God.
Adam and Eve would suffer death, murder, sickness and disease.
That fall from grace has infected the entire human race ever since. Man is conceived guilty of rebellion against God, and thus lives his days at war with God.
But God, being rich in mercy, and zealous for justice sent forth his Son to reclaim their honor by saving some of the rebellious humanity by an act of justice that would result in grace for all who will believe.
This is the work of the cross of Jesus Christ: to restore the proper honor due God for man’s rebellious and dishonorable act of disobedience by justly punishing sin and offering reconciliation to all who will come to him by faith.
- The cross displays the justice of God Romans 3:21-26
- The cross displays the grace of God 2 Corinthians 5:21
- The cross displays the holiness of God
- Our great God is so other that he can execute justice and dispense grace
in one holy act.
- The Son gets glory from his people’s (people given by Father) adoring worship
- The Father gets glory from all of humanity:
- The saved confess Jesus as King in response to grace to the Father’s
glory
\ - The rebellious confess Jesus as King to their condemnation as justice for
their rebellion and unbelief
Jesus’ mission of the cross brings glory home.
Jesus’ mission of the cross restores worship and worshipers to the proper place, and sentences rebellion and the rebellious to the proper place all to the honor and glory of Father and Son (witnessed to by the Spirit).
(The Spirit’s job is to testify to this mission of Jesus, not himself)
How does Jesus bring honor and glory to Father and Father to Son?
3. Glory is given to Son and Father by securing some of a fallen humanity that the Father has given the Son
The work of Father giving Son glory and the Son giving Father glory is the purpose of missions.
Mission is not some additional line item.
Mission is not some person-centered pursuit.
Mission is the glorious work of Jesus by the Spirit to restore honor to the Son and Father.
In other words, the end of missions is not the salvation of the lost.
The salvation of the lost is the means to accomplishing the regaining of honor to Son and Father.
This truth hinges on the grammar of this sentence.
- “, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you
have given him.”
The word translated “since” is a subordinating conjunction (kathos). Its grammatical purpose is to join a subordinate clause to a main clause.
So, the main clause is “Father, the hour has come; glorify the Son that the Son may glorify you.”
The subordinate clause is “since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him.”
The main point: The hour has come to restore glory to Son and Father
The means to that end: eternal life is given to those the Father has given the Son (this truth of a gift from Father to Son will be the foundation of next week’s talk)
John 17:1-2
Jesus is fully man.
Jesus is fully God.
Consequently, Jesus leads us into our discussion of salvation. His teaching will set our course.
Sadly, this has not been the case for much of modern evangelicalism.
It is easy for us to come to salvation and assume that salvation is for us.
Most of our evangelical culture treats salvation as if it were something God has created for us to have and our possessing it is the end and point.
This is evidenced in our emphasis on escaping hell and gaining heaven.
This is evidenced in the appalling lack of theological acumen in the church today because of the over emphasis on getting saved without any sense of discipleship.
The Scriptures guard against that if we will deal with them properly.
I want to help us guard against mistreating the glorious doctrine of salvation by dealing with Jesus on the issue.
Our Foundational statement for understanding the work of salvation:
- Jesus is on a Mission (to) be glorified by the Father as he glorifies the Father (by)
securing some of a fallen humanity that the Father has given the Son through his work on
the cross
1. Jesus is on a mission
- “Father, the hour has come” (perfect / active / indicative)
- Jesus has been speaking of the cross and his death, and this is the event he has in view.
- This is past action that is completed in the indefinite past
- In other words, the appointed hour, the mission’s climax has come.
A. The cross is not a reaction to an unknown series of events.
- God foreknows all things effectively
- “God’s foreknowledge is his foreordination.” – J.I. Packer
B. Jesus coming, living, dying and rising were plan “A” (Acts 4:28)
C. Jesus is in control of history and man’s free actions w/in that history
D. Jesus is still on a mission, and we get to participate
E. All of Jesus’ actions were intentional
What is Jesus’ mission?
2. Jesus’ mission is to be glorified by the Father as he glorifies the Father
- “glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you,”
The vocabulary of “glory” is the vocabulary of honor and shame.
To give one glory is to give honor to.
In this context, the story of redemptive history is vital.
God created everything that is, and it was good.
There was rebellion in heaven, and Satan and his followers were cast into the earth.
Satan tempts our first parents with the prideful temptation to rebel and disobey God under the false premise that they can be like God.
Rather than believe God and trust his good for them, they eat and thus honor the lies of Satan and dishonor their perfect, holy and good God.
Man, in his rebellion, chose Satan over God and death entered the race.
Adam and Eve would suffer separation from God and broken fellowship with God.
Adam and Eve would suffer death, murder, sickness and disease.
That fall from grace has infected the entire human race ever since. Man is conceived guilty of rebellion against God, and thus lives his days at war with God.
But God, being rich in mercy, and zealous for justice sent forth his Son to reclaim their honor by saving some of the rebellious humanity by an act of justice that would result in grace for all who will believe.
This is the work of the cross of Jesus Christ: to restore the proper honor due God for man’s rebellious and dishonorable act of disobedience by justly punishing sin and offering reconciliation to all who will come to him by faith.
- The cross displays the justice of God Romans 3:21-26
- The cross displays the grace of God 2 Corinthians 5:21
- The cross displays the holiness of God
- Our great God is so other that he can execute justice and dispense grace
in one holy act.
- The Son gets glory from his people’s (people given by Father) adoring worship
- The Father gets glory from all of humanity:
- The saved confess Jesus as King in response to grace to the Father’s
glory
\ - The rebellious confess Jesus as King to their condemnation as justice for
their rebellion and unbelief
Jesus’ mission of the cross brings glory home.
Jesus’ mission of the cross restores worship and worshipers to the proper place, and sentences rebellion and the rebellious to the proper place all to the honor and glory of Father and Son (witnessed to by the Spirit).
(The Spirit’s job is to testify to this mission of Jesus, not himself)
How does Jesus bring honor and glory to Father and Father to Son?
3. Glory is given to Son and Father by securing some of a fallen humanity that the Father has given the Son
The work of Father giving Son glory and the Son giving Father glory is the purpose of missions.
Mission is not some additional line item.
Mission is not some person-centered pursuit.
Mission is the glorious work of Jesus by the Spirit to restore honor to the Son and Father.
In other words, the end of missions is not the salvation of the lost.
The salvation of the lost is the means to accomplishing the regaining of honor to Son and Father.
This truth hinges on the grammar of this sentence.
- “, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you
have given him.”
The word translated “since” is a subordinating conjunction (kathos). Its grammatical purpose is to join a subordinate clause to a main clause.
So, the main clause is “Father, the hour has come; glorify the Son that the Son may glorify you.”
The subordinate clause is “since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him.”
The main point: The hour has come to restore glory to Son and Father
The means to that end: eternal life is given to those the Father has given the Son (this truth of a gift from Father to Son will be the foundation of next week’s talk)
Sunday, October 19, 2008
10/19/2008 - The Person of Jesus Christ, Jesus' Deity
The Person of Christ, Jesus’ Deity
Regarding the deity of Jesus Christ… “If we simply ponder this as we ought, a great ballast will come into the tipping ship of our soul. Sheer existence is, perhaps, the greatest mystery of all. Ponder the absoluteness of reality. There had to be something that never came into being. Back, back, back we peer into endless ages, yet there never was nothing. Someone has the honor of being the first and always. He never became or developed. He simply was. To whom belongs this singular, absolute glory? The answer is Christ, the person who the world knows as Jesus of Nazareth.” – John Piper
Jesus’ was bold in claiming to be God
Luke 5:17-26 Jesus forgives sin
Matthew 14:23-33 Jesus accepts worship from the 12
Paul was bold in claiming Jesus was God
Colossians 1:15-17 Paul claims Jesus was before all things and created all things
The writer of Hebrews
Hebrews 1:1-8 Jesus is worshiped by angels and they are Jesus’ agents, and he calls the Son, God
Jesus’ most bold claim to be God
John 6:35, 48 “I am the bread of life”
John 8:12 “I am the light of the world”
John 8:58 “I am”
John 10:7, 9 “I am the door”
John 10:11 “I am the good shepherd”
John 11:25 “I am the resurrection and the life”
John 14:6 “I am the way, the truth and the life”
John 15:1 “I am the true vine”
John, in the Apocalypse, quotes Jesus in 1:8 saying “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end…”
Consequences of Jesus’ Deity
1. Jesus is worthy of worship
- When you speak of God get specific with the name Jesus
- Understand that the Holy Spirit’s job is to exalt Jesus as King, Savior and God
- Speak of Jesus correctly
- Don’t forsake assembly with other Christians
2. Jesus excludes all other so called deities, and proclaims himself to be the only God
“A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic – on the level with a man who says he is a poached egg – or else he would be the devil of Hell. You can shut up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon; or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God. But let’s not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.” (C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, p. 53).
3. Jesus defines reality
In order to find reality and escape from the land of delusion we must:
a. Read the Scriptures, particularly the gospels
b. View all of life through the lens of what Jesus said and did
c. Imitate Jesus’ teachings and actions
d. Learn to recognize the schemes of the evil one (division, lust, religion)
c. Repent of all our ways that are contrary to Jesus’ instruction
e. Go and live out the values of Jesus and his Kingdom
Regarding the deity of Jesus Christ… “If we simply ponder this as we ought, a great ballast will come into the tipping ship of our soul. Sheer existence is, perhaps, the greatest mystery of all. Ponder the absoluteness of reality. There had to be something that never came into being. Back, back, back we peer into endless ages, yet there never was nothing. Someone has the honor of being the first and always. He never became or developed. He simply was. To whom belongs this singular, absolute glory? The answer is Christ, the person who the world knows as Jesus of Nazareth.” – John Piper
Jesus’ was bold in claiming to be God
Luke 5:17-26 Jesus forgives sin
Matthew 14:23-33 Jesus accepts worship from the 12
Paul was bold in claiming Jesus was God
Colossians 1:15-17 Paul claims Jesus was before all things and created all things
The writer of Hebrews
Hebrews 1:1-8 Jesus is worshiped by angels and they are Jesus’ agents, and he calls the Son, God
Jesus’ most bold claim to be God
John 6:35, 48 “I am the bread of life”
John 8:12 “I am the light of the world”
John 8:58 “I am”
John 10:7, 9 “I am the door”
John 10:11 “I am the good shepherd”
John 11:25 “I am the resurrection and the life”
John 14:6 “I am the way, the truth and the life”
John 15:1 “I am the true vine”
John, in the Apocalypse, quotes Jesus in 1:8 saying “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end…”
Consequences of Jesus’ Deity
1. Jesus is worthy of worship
- When you speak of God get specific with the name Jesus
- Understand that the Holy Spirit’s job is to exalt Jesus as King, Savior and God
- Speak of Jesus correctly
- Don’t forsake assembly with other Christians
2. Jesus excludes all other so called deities, and proclaims himself to be the only God
“A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic – on the level with a man who says he is a poached egg – or else he would be the devil of Hell. You can shut up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon; or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God. But let’s not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.” (C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, p. 53).
3. Jesus defines reality
In order to find reality and escape from the land of delusion we must:
a. Read the Scriptures, particularly the gospels
b. View all of life through the lens of what Jesus said and did
c. Imitate Jesus’ teachings and actions
d. Learn to recognize the schemes of the evil one (division, lust, religion)
c. Repent of all our ways that are contrary to Jesus’ instruction
e. Go and live out the values of Jesus and his Kingdom
Saturday, October 4, 2008
10/05/2008 - The Person of Jesus Christ, His Humanity
The Person of Christ: The Humanity of Jesus
We can summarize the biblical teaching about the person of Christ as follows:
Jesus Christ was fully God and fully man in one person, and will be so forever.
There is nothing in this definition that is negotiable.
The Virgin Birth (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:18-25; Luke 1:35)
(Note that Matthew 1:23 is quoted from Isaiah 7:14 and applied to this scenario showing the fulfillment of a prophetic word and the dynamic nature of the Old Testament)
1. The Virgin Birth shows that salvation must ultimately come from the Lord
- It is not through human effort that man is saved but by the work of God alone
2. The Virgin Birth makes possible the uniting of full deity and full humanity
3. The Virgin Birth makes possible Jesus’ true humanity without inherited sin
Keep in mind, the virgin birth of Jesus does not mean that Jesus came into existence. Jesus is eternal (John 1:1, Colossians 1:16, 17)
The Virgin Birth is the decisive way that God enters humanity in order to bring redemptive history to its climax in the work of the cross.
Jesus Had Human Weaknesses and Human Limitations
1. Jesus had a human body
2. Jesus had a human mind
3. Jesus had a human soul and human emotions
Jesus Was Sinless
Although Jesus was human, he was also God, and it is important to maintain the fact that he was sinless.
Hebrews 4:15; 7:26
1 Peter 1:18, 19; 2:22
1 John 2:1
Why was Jesus’ full humanity Necessary?
1. For Representative Obedience (See Grudem for Details)
2. To be a Substitute Sacrifice
3. To be the One Mediator between God and Man
4. To Fulfill God’s Original Purpose for Man to Rule over Creation (See Grudem for Details)
5. To Be Our Example and Pattern in Life
6. To Be the Pattern of Our Redeemed Bodies (See Grudem for Details)
7. To Sympathize as High Priest
8. Jesus Will Be a Man Forever
We can summarize the biblical teaching about the person of Christ as follows:
Jesus Christ was fully God and fully man in one person, and will be so forever.
There is nothing in this definition that is negotiable.
The Virgin Birth (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:18-25; Luke 1:35)
(Note that Matthew 1:23 is quoted from Isaiah 7:14 and applied to this scenario showing the fulfillment of a prophetic word and the dynamic nature of the Old Testament)
1. The Virgin Birth shows that salvation must ultimately come from the Lord
- It is not through human effort that man is saved but by the work of God alone
2. The Virgin Birth makes possible the uniting of full deity and full humanity
3. The Virgin Birth makes possible Jesus’ true humanity without inherited sin
Keep in mind, the virgin birth of Jesus does not mean that Jesus came into existence. Jesus is eternal (John 1:1, Colossians 1:16, 17)
The Virgin Birth is the decisive way that God enters humanity in order to bring redemptive history to its climax in the work of the cross.
Jesus Had Human Weaknesses and Human Limitations
1. Jesus had a human body
2. Jesus had a human mind
3. Jesus had a human soul and human emotions
Jesus Was Sinless
Although Jesus was human, he was also God, and it is important to maintain the fact that he was sinless.
Hebrews 4:15; 7:26
1 Peter 1:18, 19; 2:22
1 John 2:1
Why was Jesus’ full humanity Necessary?
1. For Representative Obedience (See Grudem for Details)
2. To be a Substitute Sacrifice
3. To be the One Mediator between God and Man
4. To Fulfill God’s Original Purpose for Man to Rule over Creation (See Grudem for Details)
5. To Be Our Example and Pattern in Life
6. To Be the Pattern of Our Redeemed Bodies (See Grudem for Details)
7. To Sympathize as High Priest
8. Jesus Will Be a Man Forever
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
09/28/2008 - Deacon Ordination
Notes for Deacon Ordination 9-28-08
Outline:
I. Why deacon ministry?
II. What deacons do
III. What deacon ministry will look like at TRCC
Outline:
I. Why deacon ministry?
II. What deacons do
III. What deacon ministry will look like at TRCC
I. Why deacon ministry?
- Much like happened in Acts 6, several months ago your pastors saw that there were needs in the body that were sometimes unmet. We began to ask God to give us deacons who could serve the body and help meet these needs so that the church is strengthened and God is glorified.
- We researched deacon ministry from the Scriptures to help us understand and define what deacon ministry is all about. We tried to lose all our preconceived notions about who and what deacons are and simply let Scripture speak to us.
- Mitch preached about deacons for four weeks as we looked at Ecclesiology in our Systematic Theology. We encouraged each of you to pray about who our deacons should be and to nominate those that you felt met the qualifications for deacons laid out in Scripture. We asked you to speak with whoever you were nominating prior to giving us their name to ensure they knew about the process and would be ok with being nominated.
II. What deacons do
Here is a brief reminder about what deacons are and are not:
3 Common distortions of the New Testament diaconate:
- Ruling Executives- Many churches have made the diaconate the ruling board of the church. In many churches, deacons act more like corporation executives than ministering servants. Even more troublesome is the fact that deacons are often placed into a competitive role with the shepherds of the local church.
- Building and Property Managers- Other churches mistakenly reduce deacons to building managers, glorified church janitors, or sanctified groundskeepers. This view (and a similar view that turns deacons into church financial officers) seriously demeans the office of deacon and denies the local church the necessary ministry God designed the diaconate to provide for His people.
- The Church Swiss Army Knife- Some churches (especially Southern Baptist) make the deacon operate in nearly every area of church life (teaching, preaching, visiting, social action, counseling, stewardship, organizing, administration, Lord’s Supper, meeting needs of the pastor). Such unlimited spheres of service completely blur the distinctive purpose and duties of the New Testament diaconate and can only frustrate deacons.
Deacons are Ministers of Mercy
Deacons are to be involved in a compassionate ministry of caring for the poor and needy.
Deacons are to emulate our Lord’s example of humble, loving service to needy people. Deacons’ work is essential to the life and witness of God’s church. Church shepherds desperately need the deacons to relieve them from the many practical care needs essential to shepherding a flock so that the shepherds can attend more fully to teaching, guarding, and leading the whole flock.
The Shepherds’ Priorities: Word and Prayer Acts 6:1-4
A Two-Office Church: Overseers and Deacons
Deacons (Diakonos)
Philippians 1:1 Paul and Timothy, bond-servants of (Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, including the overseers and deacons:
English Greek Latin
servant, minister, or deacon = diakonos minister
serve, minister (verb) = diakoneo ministro
service, ministry = diakonia
slave = doulos servus
III. What deacon ministry will look like at TRCC
- Your pastors met with each of the nominated candidates individually to make sure they understood what would be required, to ask them about their willingness to serve, and to understand the passions and giftings they would bring to deacon ministry. We also wanted to make sure that they would meet the character and life qualifications set out in Scripture to be a deacon.
- After each of the candidates agreed that they wanted to pursue deacon ministry, I began meeting with all of them as a group to put together a plan for what deacon ministry will look like at TRCC. We looked together at Scripture and also how the office of deacon has been applied and sometimes misapplied in churches. We met for a month to work toward an understanding of what their role will be, although some of that is still to be defined based on the needs in the church.
- At the end of this period, we assigned each deacon 10-12 TRCC member family units to be part of their deacon care group. Each deacon will be meeting with their deacon care group in the next couple of weeks to get to know you and explain how our deacon ministry will work.
- We assigned these care groups based on those who have joined as members of TRCC. This was done because we felt any other means would be arbitrary and potentially unfair. We also believe that membership is important- that commitment to a church should be a two-way street. This does not mean that if you are not a member that we will not seek to minister to you. It does mean that you won’t have a deacon assigned to you with their care group.
- Deacons are responsible for making sure personal needs are met in the church- but not necessarily doing all the ministry themselves.
- 10-12 family units are too many for a deacon to be able to personally meet all the needs, so we have organized you into deacon care groups to minster to each other under your deacon’s responsibility. This is also part of our understanding of authentic community in the church- we all have something to give and something to take in ministry.
- Deacon care groups are to take the lead in ministering to people in their group, however, the entire church may be involved in some ministry within the group.
- Deacons will have other ministry responsibilities that are determined by their gifts and passion and the needs of the church. We have encouraged them to find that spot where their gifts intersect the needs of the church and plug in there.
- We believe that God will raise up other deacons in our church this year, and we are going to actively look for those of you who will be the next class of deacons within the next 12 month.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
09/21/2008 - The Fall, It's Consequences and the Cross
The Fall, Its Consequences and the Cross as Punishment of Sin
The Fall
Genesis 3:1-13
The Consequences of the Fall
Romans 5:12-19
Psalm 51:5
“Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.”
Genesis 2:17
“… but the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
1 Corinthians 15:21
“For as by a man (Adam) came death, by a man (Jesus) has come also the resurrection of the dead.” Parenthesis Mine
Ephesians 2:1-3
“And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience – among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.”
Romans 6:16, 20
“Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?”
1 Corinthians 2:14
“The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.”
Romans 8:7-8
“For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”
Deuteronomy 29:4
“But to this day the Lord had not given you a heart to understand or eyes to see or ears to hear.”
As a result of the fall:
1. We are conceived with Adam’s sin and thus guilty before God prior to committing acts
of sin. (This is the doctrine of “original sin” or “inherited sin”)
2. God’s image is distorted (Genesis 9:6, there is still consequence for murder because
man is in God’s image post fall)
3. We are dead toward God.
4. We are slaves of unrighteousness
5. We are hostile toward God.
6. We are incapable of understanding the truths of God.
7. We are not able to see or hear the truth of God.
8. We are incapable of pleasing God.
9. We are followers of the evil one and enslaved to him.
10. Moral purity is lost (we are unclean in our affections)
11. Our character does not display the holiness of God (we are corrupt in our character
and are prone to lie, cheat, steal etc.)
12. Our intellect is corrupted by falsehood and misunderstanding (error is easy)
13. Our speech often does not glorify God (we have the tendency to speak with an atheist
worldview, treat each other harshly and degrade others)
14. Our relationships are often governed by selfishness rather than love
The Cross as Punishment of Sin
Romans 3:21-26
The Fall
Genesis 3:1-13
The Consequences of the Fall
Romans 5:12-19
Psalm 51:5
“Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.”
Genesis 2:17
“… but the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
1 Corinthians 15:21
“For as by a man (Adam) came death, by a man (Jesus) has come also the resurrection of the dead.” Parenthesis Mine
Ephesians 2:1-3
“And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience – among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.”
Romans 6:16, 20
“Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?”
1 Corinthians 2:14
“The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.”
Romans 8:7-8
“For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”
Deuteronomy 29:4
“But to this day the Lord had not given you a heart to understand or eyes to see or ears to hear.”
As a result of the fall:
1. We are conceived with Adam’s sin and thus guilty before God prior to committing acts
of sin. (This is the doctrine of “original sin” or “inherited sin”)
2. God’s image is distorted (Genesis 9:6, there is still consequence for murder because
man is in God’s image post fall)
3. We are dead toward God.
4. We are slaves of unrighteousness
5. We are hostile toward God.
6. We are incapable of understanding the truths of God.
7. We are not able to see or hear the truth of God.
8. We are incapable of pleasing God.
9. We are followers of the evil one and enslaved to him.
10. Moral purity is lost (we are unclean in our affections)
11. Our character does not display the holiness of God (we are corrupt in our character
and are prone to lie, cheat, steal etc.)
12. Our intellect is corrupted by falsehood and misunderstanding (error is easy)
13. Our speech often does not glorify God (we have the tendency to speak with an atheist
worldview, treat each other harshly and degrade others)
14. Our relationships are often governed by selfishness rather than love
The Cross as Punishment of Sin
Romans 3:21-26
Thursday, September 11, 2008
09/14/2008 - The Doctrine of Man: Created in the Image of God
The fact that man is in the image of God means than man is like God and represents God.
The Hebrew word (tselem) for “image” and (demut) for “likeness” refer to something that is similar but not identical to the thing it represents or is an “image” of. – Wayne Grudem
What does it mean to be created in the image of God?
1. We are moral
1.1 We are morally accountable before God
1.2 We have an inner sense of right and wrong (sets us apart from the animals)
1.3. God is reflected in behavior that is holy and righteous
- Contrast – our unlikeness to God is shown when we sin
2. We are spiritual
2.1 We are not only physical, but we also possess immaterial spirits
2.2 We have a spiritual life that enables us to relate to God
2.3 We are immortal in that we will not cease to exist, but we will live forever
3. We are able to think
3.1 We have the ability to reason and think logically
3.2 We can use and understand complex and abstract language
3.3 Ecclesiastes 3:11 We have an awareness of the distant future, even an inward
sense of that future
3.4 We have the ability to be creative (art, music, literature, science)
3.5 We have complex emotions
4. We are relational
4.1 We are capable of interpersonal harmony in marriage relationship
4.2 In marriage we reflect the reality of inter-Trinitarian relationship in that men
and women are of equal importance, but possess different roles.
4.3 We have been given the right to rule over creation and will be given more
authority when Christ returns.
5. We are physical
5.1 Our physical bodies reflect something of God’s own character as well
5.1.1 Pre-existent Christ
5.2 The God given ability to bear and raise children who are like us is a
reflection of God’s own ability to create human beings who are like himself
What is the result of being created in the image of God?
Dignity
“It will probably amaze us to realize that when the Creator of the universe wanted to create something “in his image,” something more like himself than all the rest of creation, he made us. This realization will give us a profound sense of dignity and significance as we reflect on the excellence of all the rest of God’s creation: the starry universe, the abundant earth, the world of plants and animals and the angelic kingdoms are remarkable, even magnificent. But we are more like our Creator than any of these things. We are the culmination of God’s infinitely wise and skillful work of creation.” – Wayne Grudem
The church is made up of humans created in the image of God that have been redeemed back from the catastrophe that our first parents (Adam & Eve) sold us into with their rebellion in the fall. Since we are made up of humans created in the image of God, then the church has intrinsic dignity.
The church is to be moral
The church is to be spiritual
The church is to be thinking
The church is to be relational
The church is to be incarnational
Thursday, September 4, 2008
09/07/2008 - The Doctrine of Man: Man's Purpose
Doctrine of Man: Why did God create man and what is man's purpose?
1. Why did God create man?
1.1 God did not need to create man because God has no need and is not lonely
1.1.1 - God is independent
- “God does not need us or the rest of creation for anything, yet we and the
rest of creation can glorify him and bring him joy.” – Wayne Grudem
- Acts 17:24-25
1.1.2- God is in perfect unity and fellowship in the Trinity
- John 17:1-5, 24
1.1.3 - God does not need us, but we are meaningful to him. Why?
1.2 God created man for his glory (Isaiah 43:7; Ephesians 1:11-12)
- Man must then have, as his end in all things, the glory of God (1 Cor 10:31)
- Man must seek the satisfaction of and the honoring of God
1.2.1 - Our ends must become God’s ends
- We learn to evaluate what we do and why we do it
- Dating – dating must image God’s pursuit of his
people
- Marriage – marriage must image God’s devotion
to his people and tender treatment of his people
- Theology – our theology must reflect God not
people (which is anthropology) manifest in the
kinds of questions we ask such as: what about the
people who have never heard? The question must be
what about the offense against God by their
rebellion
- Profession – A job is not just a job, but a means
of making much of God and funding God’s
Kingdom
- Politics – issues such as abortion and becoming
desensitized and valuing other things more than life
created in the image of God
1.2.2 - Our beliefs must match God’s beliefs
- Our doctrine must match that of the Scriptures not culture
- Jesus is God despite the radical scholarship
propounded by unbelieving men at the university
1.2.3 - Our values must begin to match God’s values
- God does not value self-esteem, but poverty of spirit,
humility and meekness
- God does not value self-determination, he values
dependence
- God does not value hoarding resources, but giving them
away
2. What is our purpose in life?
2.1 In regard to God: Glorify God
2.2 In regard to man (how do we live out glorifying God): Enjoy God which glorifies God
2.2.1 - John 10:10 Enjoying God’s abundant life (life overflowing; vitality in the
faith; Holy Spirit springing up the water of life; quenching of every human
desire)
2.2.2 - Psalm 16:l1 Tasting the joy and pleasures of knowing God
- Knowing the love of God in spite of my sin as a result of Jesus’ work
2.2.3 - Psalm 27:4 Looking on the beauty of the Lord
2.2.4 - Psalm 73:25-26 Knowing God as our strength in life and our portion
forever
2.2.5 - Psalm 84:1-2, 10 Enjoying the superiority of one day with God than a
thousand elsewhere
2.2.6 - Romans 5:2-3 Making our boast / rejoicing in the glory of God
- When God is honored we boast and rejoice in that publicly
2.2.7 - Philippians 4:2-7 Unity leading to peace leading to rejoicing in the Lord
2.2.8 - 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 Delight in God’s will by:
Rejoicing always (understanding God’s providential love in dealing with you and
I),
Praying w/o ceasing (being utterly dependent on God for all things),
Giving thanks in all circumstances (embracing life, in all circumstances, as
coming from God who loves you and is working for your good and therefore you
are undaunted in the storms of life)
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Welcome
Welcome to TRCC Notes. Here you will find notes to go along with the audio sermons. Let us know what you think!
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