Cessationism or Continualism?

So, are you a “Cessationist” or a “Continualist”? For those who might not understand the terms, a “Continualist” is someone who believes that the so-called sign gifts of the Spirit are as strong today as they ever were, while a “Cessationist” believes those sign gifts are no longer with us because we have something the early church did not have: the Bible.

In general, Continualists include charismatic churches while Cessationists are non-charismatic. This is not absolute, but it is close enough for discussion.

Notable Continualists include such diverse preachers as Dan Betzer (former radio preacher, now in Ft. Myers, Florida), Rodney Howard Brown, and Dr. Adrian Warnock.  Cessationists would include Frank Turk, Phil Johnson, John MacArthur and others. There are also some who are sort of in the middle. John Piper is one, as was Charles Spurgeon (according to some).  

So what are we to do? How do we know which camp is the most Biblical? In 1 Corinthians 1, Paul writes:

“My brothers and sisters, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. ¹² What I mean is this: One of you says, “I follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I follow Cephas^[b]”; still another, “I follow Christ.”

^{13 “}Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized in the name of Paul? ¹⁴ I thank God that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, ¹⁵ so no one can say that you were baptized in my name. ¹⁶ (Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I don’t remember if I baptized anyone else.) ¹⁷ For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with wisdom and eloquence, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.”

Paul, at least, was clear. We are to follow Christ and Christ alone. We are to preach the gospel and nothing else. In this we are to be united. Does that mean that we do not have to be concerned with other doctrines? Not at all. In fact, all of 1Timothy deals with various false doctrines and how careful we must be to select leaders who do not subscribe to them.

How, then, do we decide which doctrines are important enough to fuss over and which ones are not?

Any position can be proven if we cherry-pick scripture. Selecting a verse or a few verses here or there to “prove our point” is no way to form doctrines. All divisions of faiths that call themselves “Christian” do that. Continualists do that, as do Cessationist. Mainline Christians do it. So do Seventh Day Adventists, Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses and other aberrant denominations. It is heretical to adopt one belief system over another based on selected scriptures.

In Matthew 27:5 we read: “Judas went out and hanged himself.” Then in Luke 10:37 we find: “Go and do likewise.” While in John 13:27: Jesus says:  “What thou doest, do quickly.” All three of those are exact scripture quotes. Together they justify a doctrine of suicide. Of course, that is absurd! But it is EXACTLY what almost all Christian groups do to prove that their way is the right way and all others are at least mistaken, if not satanic.

Here is how to formulate a doctrine.

Realize the purpose of the Bible. It is not a “guide-book for living” (although if you need a guidebook, there is none better). The Bible is not a history book (although if you want to know the history of God’s creation it’s the best one ever written). Neither is the Bible a psychology book (although you will not find more accurate psychology anywhere). Most of all, the Bible is not a book of religion. If you need a book on religion, you will have to look elsewhere.

The Bible is God’s revelation of His character, His love for His creation and His plan for its redemption. That redemption is provided through and only through the shed blood of Christ at the cross of Calvary. Any use of the Bible for any other purpose is both apostasy and heresy.

The unfortunate thing is, many pastors and theologians know this in the recesses of their minds, but they are so conditioned to the cherry-pick scripture approach that they end up trying to live by the Law and the Old Covenant and Grace and the New Covenant all at once. That just cannot work and always results in false doctrine.

Not too long ago there was a “debate” between Dr. Michael Brown and Dr. Sam Waldron. Each was quoting scripture at breakneck speed. Each proved to his own satisfaction his own stance on Cessationism vs. Continualism. It was all quite frantic and more than a bit laughable.

Both sides of this controversy would claim that they believe salvation is by Jesus plus nothing. Then they both proceed to add something to Jesus because each believes He is almost enough in-and-of Himself, but not quite. Both would deny that they are “legalists,” but each exhibit the essential characteristics of legalism.

The next step in formulating a correct doctrine is to understand that the Bible is not about you and it is not about me. It is all about Him. Everything you need to know about God is found in the Word of God. Nothing you need to know about God is NOT in the Word of God. Everything you THINK you know about God that’s not in the Word of God you just made up. It is all about Him and it is totally sufficient to reveal Him.

Next you need to know that the Bible is not a series of proverbial sayings to be applied for the purpose of helping you think or behave in a certain way. Under the New Covenant, God writes His Law and His Word on our hearts. The scripture gives us a record of the ancestry of, birth of, crucifixion of, resurrection of and the soon return of Christ. If you are reading it correctly, it is revealing Him, from Genesis to Revelation.

Friends, the Bible is totally unconcerned with Cessationism or Continualism…totally. If you think it has something to do with either position you have been sucked into that thinking by somebody who taught you wrong or by tradition and convention. That is true whether you were taught at the premiere seminary in the universe or the best Bible school in the nation.

At the risk of doing what I have just been railing against, may I remind you that Paul wrote: I Corinthians 2:2 For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” and I Corinthians 9:16 “Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel.” These quotes are consistent with the purpose of scripture to begin with.

The gospel is our message. We have no other message. If you are trying to fit some other message into your preaching, or if you are attempting to preach some social message or some behavioral message, you are engaging in heresy. If you think this message is boring or irrelevant, you are lost and need to get saved before you preach another word.

Not until we get this message to every living person on earth will we be in a position to widen our message. Since that will never happen, we are well advised to stick to the gospel, God’s revelation of His character, His love of His creation and His plan for its redemption through Christ Jesus, to whom all focus and glory belongs forever. That message you will find in every verse of the Bible.

SUNDAY SOUNDS OF PRAISE-Great is the Lord

An Overview of Hosea

Hosea Chapters 1- 14

The Theme of Hosea: Gomer was faithless; Israel was faithless; God is always faithful.

Many people think the Minor Prophets are called that because their books are short. Hosea is longer than the book of Daniel. Minor prophets are not minor. They are even quoted by the “major” prophets. They were nationalistic and focused on the Israelites’ breaking of the Law. But their main message was the inability of Israel to keep the Law. Hosea is the prophet in the Northern Kingdom who compares to Jeremiah in the Southern Kingdom. Both warned of Israel’s captivity and both lived to see it come to pass.

Chapter 1 – God tells Hosea to take a harlot for a wife. This is contrary to the Law of Moses. This is indicative that the purpose of the Law is to reveal sin, not to provide a way out of sin. Imagine if this happened in your life. Your son says, “God told me to marry a harlot.”

Chapter 2 – Gomer proves faithless; Israel proves faithless; God proves faithful. This is about God’s love for the nation Israel. Ultimately He will restore her, and she will give up the worship of Baal. Hosea understands the attitude and action of God because of his own love for Gomer.

Chapter 3 – Hosea is commanded to take Gomer again

Chapters 4 & 5 – Israel plays the harlot. She is constantly turning from God to idolatry.

Chapter 6 – Prophesy that Israel will return to God in the last days. We’re getting closer.

Chapter 7 – Israel turns to Egypt and Assyria. They think the grass is greener on that fence side.

Chapter 8 – Israel turns to golden calves and altars of sin. This is repeated behavior by Israel.

Chapter 9 & 10 – Israel turns to a land of productivity but is told she will be driven from the land

Chapters 11 & 12 – Israel turns from God again but God will not give her up.

Chapter 13 – Israel will be judged in the present. Our sins find us out and have consequences.

Chapter 14 – Israel will be saved in the future. God is not finished with Israel. They are His chosen people, not because they were good, but because God gets to choose.

What do we learn from Hosea?

The Character of God: God is always faithful, even when we are unfaithful.

God’s love for His creation: While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8)!

His Plan for its redemption: No one is too dirty, too hopeless, too far-gone for Jesus to save them.
Jesus is a faithful husband, who gave Himself for His bride the church (us) and is purifying that bride (us) for Himself (Ephesians 5:25-27).

We are called to live out this good news, forgiving others, redeeming the hopeless, loving the unlovable, and speaking the message of Jesus and His love.

Our salvation comes from trusting in, and only in, the finished work of Christ at the cross of Calvary and believing that God has raised Him from the dead.

I TIMOTHY UN-REWRITTEN

The books of the Bible have been divided into chapters and verses to make it easy to find certain passages. Unfortunately, it also makes it easy to mix and match verses to fit one's personal theosophy. It also destroys the narrative.

What follows is the book of I Timothy as it would have been written by Paul. For the sake of clarity, I have taken a few literary liberties, but the actual flow and meaning of the letter has been preserved. Since it is the entire book, it is long. It is well worth the read and might forever change the way we read and understand Scripture.

Paul Theapostle
777 Apostle Road
Macedonia

Timothy Brotherinchristos
First Baptist Church
Ephesus

Dear Tim,

You will no doubt remember that when I went to Macedonia I asked you to stay in Ephesus to stop certain church members there from teaching false doctrines, to tell them to cease engaging in stupid myths about Jesus and to tell them to stop bragging about their ancestors. They are not helping God’s work, but are causing all kinds of controversy. God’s work is by faith and faith alone. This letter is to help you identify the false teachers and to help you choose leaders who are sound in Christian doctrine.

I am writing this to you out of a heart of love for you and God’s people. I have a heart purified by Christ, I write without guilt about these matters and I have a sincere faith. Some of the people you are serving are just babbling on. They want to be teachers of the law, not realizing that the law has been fulfilled in Jesus. Although they speak as though they are brilliant scholars, they are not.

Let me be clear. The law is good, if properly applied. It should be used to point out our need for Christ. That is what I wrote to the church in Rome. The law itself has no power. If you are a law abiding citizen, the law does not affect you. Law breakers have no respect for the law, nor do they exhibit strength of character or any vestige of morality. These are the people who come under the law.

Some have tried to justify their rebelliousness, their sin, their murderous attitudes, their homosexuality, their immorality, trading slaves, their lying and for other actions contrary to the gospel by insisting on their freedom in Christ. As I told the Roman church, God’s grace is not license to keep on sinning. Instead, you should teach them to recognize God for who He is and to give glory and honor to Him forever.

To face these false teachers will take strength and courage. Remember how I trained you. I knew you would be able to fight this battle through your faith and good conscience in the face of those like Hymenaeus and Alexander, who have virtually deserted the faith in favor of these satanic teachings.

Timothy, you are going to have to be steeped in prayer for the entire church at Ephesus. You will need to pray for the boldness to confront these false teachers through petition, intercession, and gratitude for the privilege of serving them, whether they are kings, mayors, police or whatever their position. This is the way God wants it done, peacefully and with godliness and holiness. You are more likely to win them to Christ this way.

Although these people are teaching falsely about Him, there is only one God and there is only one way to get to Him: through Christ Jesus, who gave His life to ransom them from their sin. He is the one who gave me the right to speak to you about these matters, truthfully. He has given me the spiritual authority to teach Gentiles, and I am encouraging you to do so, too.

All of us who are saved should pray to God and praise God without engaging in disputes or getting angry as we address these issues. The women should set the minds of the false teachers at ease by dressing modestly, thus not encouraging them to take sexual advantage of them. They should do nothing to think they might be immorally available to them. Too much jewelry, fancy hairdos, or expensive clothes might convey the wrong impression.

These false teachers are very into the culture and are used to abusing women. They think that even though they call themselves Christians they can go on degrading them. Therefore, it would be helpful for women to stay in the background. These false teachers have little respect for women, reasoning that Adam was formed first and thus were allowed to hold power over women.  They should act appropriately for women who profess to worship God. Their faith will save them and their love, holiness and propriety will sustain them, even through childbearing.

Like I said, these false teachers want to be leaders. But beware! They must not be put in positions of authority or they will cause all kinds of trouble. When a person comes to you wanting to be a leader, check him out thoroughly, his lifestyle, his family life, his temperament, and his doctrine. Don’t allow alcoholics, wife-abusers, argumentative money-grubbers to become leaders. If he cannot lead his worldly family well, how can he expect to lead members of his spiritual family? The man who wants to lead should well-grounded in the faith and must not lean on his own understanding or reasoning. He should have a good reputation with those outside the church, so he can demonstrate to them a life based on sound doctrine.

This same standard applies to those who want to be servants in the church. Servants in the church should be worthy of respect, sincere and must hold to the faith with sound doctrine. They should be honest and shouldn't be alcoholics either. Watch the way they operate before placing them in positions of servant hood. If they have learned the sound doctrines of the faith, they qualify to be servants.

Just as women are to be worthy of respect, not malicious talkers but temperate and trustworthy in everything, so must a servant be faithful to his wife and must manage his children and his household well. Those who have served well gain an excellent standing and great assurance in their faith in Christ Jesus.

Although I hope to come to you soon, I am writing you these instructions so that, if I am delayed, you will know how the people you choose to teach ought to conduct themselves in God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.  Beyond all question, the mystery from which true godliness springs is great: He appeared in the flesh, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was reached among the nations, was believed on in the world, and was taken up in glory.

The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.  Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. In their false teaching, they forbid people to marry, even though marriage pictures Christ’s relationship to the church. They also order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth.  This will remind you of the time God showed Peter that all things were good to eat.  For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.

If you point these things out to the brothers and sisters, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, nourished, not by food, but by the truths of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed.  Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train to be godly. Think about it, Tim.  Physical training has of some temporal value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.  This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance.  That is why we labor and strive, because we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all people, and especially of those who believe.

Be sure you teach these sound doctrines. Although you are young, you are well grounded in the faith since you have learned from me. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Set an example to your church members so they will not seek to have the false teachers in control. Guard your speech, conduct, love, faith and purity. Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching sound doctrine.  You are a gifted leader. Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through prophecy when the body of elders demonstrated their approval of you when they laid their hands on you.

When it comes to these matters of false teachers, be diligent to avoid putting them in positions of leadership. Strengthen yourself by giving yourself wholly to all I have taught you, so that everyone my see your progress. Watch your own life and doctrine so you don’t fall for the tripe they teach. Persevere in them and you will be strengthened in your salvation and will be able to communicate the gospel accurately to your hearers.

Tim, some of these false teachers are old and set in their ways. They may think they have thought these doctrinal matters through, but their starting point is wrong. They need to be corrected, but they might think you a bit young to be teaching them anything. Do not rebuke an older man harshly, but exhort him as if he were your father.

Younger men simply have not had the time to learn correct doctrine. But don’t be too hard on them for their lack of knowledge. Treat younger men as brothers; likewise treat older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters, with absolute purity.

Give proper recognition to those widows who are really in need.  But if a widow has children or grandchildren, these should learn first of all to put their religion into practice by caring for their own family and so repaying their parents and grandparents, for this is pleasing to God.  The widow who is really in need and left all alone puts her hope in God and continues night and day to pray and to ask God for help.  But the widow who lives for pleasure is dead even while she lives.  Give the people these instructions, so that no one may be open to blame.  Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

Keep track of the widows in your church. Develop a list of those who are in need of ministry.  For clarity, no widow may be put on the list of widows unless she is over sixty, has been faithful to her husband,  and is well known for her good deeds, such as bringing up children, showing hospitality, washing the feet of the Lord’s people, helping those in trouble and devoting herself to all kinds of good deeds.

As for younger widows, do not put them on such a list. They tend to be spiritually unstable and often their sensual desires overcome their dedication to Christ, and they want to marry. Thus they bring judgment on themselves, because they have broken their first pledge, which is to Christ. Besides, they get into the habit of being idle and going about from house to house. And not only do they become idlers, but also busybodies who talk nonsense, saying things they ought not to.  So I counsel younger widows to marry, to have children, to manage their homes and to give the enemy no opportunity for slander.  (Some have in fact already turned away to follow Satan).

If any woman who is a believer has widows in her care, she should continue to help them and not let the church be burdened with them, so that the church can help those widows who are really need the church’s help.

Those mature men who help pastor the church with preaching and teaching are well worthy of high regard and respect. For Scripture says, “Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain,” and “The worker deserves his wages.”

Do not entertain an accusation against an elder unless it is brought by two or three witnesses.  But those elders who are sinning by teaching false doctrines you are to reprove before everyone, so that the others may take warning.  I charge you, in the sight of God and Christ Jesus and the elect angels, to keep these instructions without partiality, and to do nothing out of favoritism.

Take your time in selecting leadership. Don’t get caught up in the sins of others and don’t be fooled by them. Keep yourself pure.

Stop drinking only water, and use a little wine because of your stomach and your frequent illnesses.

The sins of some are obvious, reaching the place of judgment ahead of them; the sins of others trail behind them, and you might not find out about them until later. In the same way, good deeds are obvious, and even those that are not obvious cannot remain hidden forever.

All who are under the yoke of slavery should consider their masters worthy of full respect, so that God’s name and our teaching may not be slandered. 2 Those who have believing masters should not show them disrespect just because they are fellow believers. Instead, they should serve them even better because their masters are dear to them as fellow believers and are devoted to the welfare[a] of their slaves.

Timothy, this business of false teachers is really important. If it seems like I am leaning hard on it, it is because false teaching can ruin the church. You are to insist on leaders who have sound doctrine. If anyone teaches otherwise and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching,  they are conceited and understand nothing. They have an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions  and constant friction between people of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain.

True godliness with contentment is great gain. The truth is, we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.  Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.  For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

Timothy, man of God, flee from all this false doctrine, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.  Fight the good fight of true faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.  In the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and of Christ Jesus, who while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you to keep these instructions without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ,  which God will bring about in his own time—God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords,  who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen.

Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.  Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.  In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.

Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to your care. Turn away from godless chatter and the opposing ideas of what is falsely called knowledge,  which some have professed and in so doing have departed from the faith.

May God’s Riches at Christ’s Expense be with you all.

In Christian Love, Paul

The Presence of God

“You should have been at church yesterday! God was really present!”

Really? Isn’t God really present every Sunday, as well as Monday through Saturday?

One of the characteristics of God is that He is omnipresent. That means everywhere at once. Now He is either omnipresent or He isn’t. He cannot be everywhere at once one minute and not the next. Neither can He be present everywhere and only certain places all at once.

So, what makes some worship services seem as though “God is really present?” Could it be that it is not a function of God, but of the mood of the worshipers? Of course it could, and it is.

When worshippers arrive at church, the Holy Spirit is always already present. The question is not whether God is there. The question is about whether our hearts prepared to allow Him to work in our lives.

Sometimes we mistake excitement for worship. Certain music is designed more to create energy and to wake people up than it is to prepare people for worship. That is true whether the music is classical, standard or contemporary in nature.

One of the issues is that we have come to consider praise the same thing as worship, and it is not. Praise is an exultation of God. It is celebratory in nature. Worship is reverent honor and homage paid to God and being awed in His presence. We need both, but they are not the same thing. Worship services often emphasize praise over worship to their detriment.

Praise is a key element of a Sunday service because we are supposed to be celebrating the resurrection of Christ.  In fact, we worship on Sunday for that very reason, a joyous proclamation of a risen Lord.

We are also gathered to worship a holy, majestic and awe provoking God. Too many Sunday services either omit this element or substitute prayer for worship. While we can both praise and worship in prayer, prayer is not, in and of itself, either praise or worship.

The inclusion of all of the elements: worship, singing, praise, prayer, Scripture, submission, and the presentation of the gospel will go a long way toward assisting worshipers realize the presence of God.

SUNDAY SOUNDS OF PRAISE-You Are Worthy-The Mount Paran Choir & Orchestra

Why Isn't Jesus Enough?

Why is it that some people who identify themselves as Christians do not find satisfaction and sufficiency in Jesus? Why do they have to have Jesus plus something? Why do they need Jesus plus works, or Jesus plus ecstasy, or Jesus plus laughing, or Jesus plus tongues, or Jesus plus healing, or Jesus plus wealth or Jesus plus some combination of the above? Why isn’t Jesus enough?

Jesus isn’t enough because He isn’t really God in the minds of some Christians. He isn’t enough because they do not realize the price He paid for our salvation. They do not realize the depth of the horror He went through to achieve our salvation, therefore, salvation is not enough.

Take the horror of all of those killed in World War II, the holocaust, Pearl Harbor and the Twin Towers, add it all up and you will not even begin to touch the horror of what Jesus did to provide your salvation.

He became sin for us. That’s not just some trite little theological or theosophical idea. It is His act of having accepted the penalty of every sin committed in the past, present or future for every human being who has ever lived on this earth.

Many people have died for things they believed in. Some have died for religious beliefs. Others have died for philosophical beliefs. Some have died for political freedom. Jesus did not die for something He believed in. He died for a purpose greater than all of the purposes ever purposed. His death was far more than thorns, nails and spears.

When Jesus cried from the cross, “My God! My God! Why hast Thou forsaken me!” He was experiencing the eternal suffering for our sins. There He experienced total darkness in His soul and the absence of His Father. He experienced the flames and fire of Hell on our behalf.

And for some, that is not enough. They think they need (or deserve) something more.

SUNDAY SOUNDS OF PRAISE-Walk On- The Issacs

A Study in I Samuel Chapter 17:1-58

I Samuel Chapter 17:1-58

Chapter 17

This chapter contains the familiar episode of David slaying Goliath with a slingshot.

Verses 1-39 – Egypt vs Israel today is similar to the Philistines vs Israel. Israel has always been the center of the world’s prejudice and wrath. The world does not like to admit that Israel was chosen by God.

Goliath was 9’9”. He was weighed down with armor. He chose to fight the world’s way. David was alarmed that no one would face Goliath. David didn’t want the armor of Saul. He wanted to use what God had provided…to do things God’s way.

Verses 40-58 – Why did David take 5 smooth stones to slay Goliath? Did he expect to miss? No, Goliath had four sons, and David expected them to come out also. Later we find out that David did slay them (2 Samuel 21:22). We also know that David did not expect to miss (Judges 20:16).

Goliath, the giant, represented the world and a pagan world-view. The world hates the Christian faith, and ridicules our faith like the Philistines ridiculed David.

Remember Samson? He treated the Philistines as a friend. He even married one of them. David treated them as enemies. We are told that we are in the world, but we are not to be of the world.

Saul represents Satan. He wanted to use the world’s way to help David overcome the giant. But the world cannot solve problems, it can only create them. Every time the world makes some great discovery or invents something it cause as many problems as it solves.

The world invented cars. Cars kill more people than diseases do. The world invented antibiotics. Infectious bacteria have adjusted to the antibiotics by becoming resistant to them. The world invented the airplane. Airplanes can bring on airsickness, jet lag and death, both in wars and in commercial flight.

David is a picture of the one who believes in Christ. He understood that God did not do things man’s way. Remember Joshua and the instructions he was given about crumbling the walls of Jericho?  What man would have done things that way? Well, here we have David going up against Goliath with a slingshot and a stone. What man would have done things that way?

How often have you heard a man say something like, “Sure, we believe in God. But God gave us a brain and He expects us to use it.” Well, that is not true. When we use our own thought processes we always mess something up. There is a way that SEEMS right to a man, but the end thereof is death.

Once again we ask, “What man would have provided salvation like God did it?” The answer is no man. Salvation come from trust in, and only in, the finished work of Christ at the cross of Calvary.

DO AS I SAY DO, NOT AS I DO DO

If you say you are going to do something and then don’t do it, were you lying when you said you were going to do it? Do circumstances dictate whether or not it was a lie? Are there situations when failing to do what you said you were going to do is warranted?

Matthew wrote, “Nor shall you make an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. But let your statement be, 'Yes, yes ' or 'No, no'; anything beyond these is of evil.” These are Jesus’ words from the Sermon on the Mount. His subject is “oaths,” specifically oaths to the Lord. This would seem to say that everything is black or white, wrong or right.

Remember, His sermon began with reference to man’s heart and what man’s attitudes should be. The heart is critical to understanding Scripture in general and specific passages in particular.

In Jeremiah we read “Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

This Old Testament passage introduces the concept of the New Covenant, the time when God would lead His people not by tradition and not by a list of dos and don’ts, but by “writing” His word on their hearts. The book of Hebrews covers the subject of the New Covenant from chapter 6 through chapter 10.

So Matthew 5 is preparatory to the New Testament message of the New Covenant. It speaks of how we are to think, and that our thinking is evidence of our heart’s attitude.

Jesus says He has come to fulfill the law we could not fulfill; that if the law is not fulfilled we will be doomed and that His fulfillment of the Law is the beginning point of our salvation in Him.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells us that murder, adultery, divorce oaths, revenge, love, altruism, prayer, self-deprivation, our focus, worry, judging, and seeking God are all matters of the heart. It turns out that one or more of these issues exists in the heart of every man and that is why we need salvation through Him.

So, then, what about this business of saying we’ll do something and then not doing it? The short answer is we were either wrong in promising it to begin with, or we were wrong not to carry through with our intentions.

Either way, sin is at the bottom of it all, as is the inability of the heart to cause us to do what is right. That is the essence of sin.

The message of Scripture is that we are all sinners. By Scripture we know that anything that is not dead center in God’s will is sin. That covers more than most of us are comfortable with, for it means that we breathe in and exhale sin in everything we are and do. Scripture teaches that every sin carries with it the consequence of death and that its only remedy is the shed blood of Christ at the cross of Calvary.

In the end, the answers to the questions posed are “Yes,” “No,” and “Yes.” Truth is truth and everything else is not. Being a man of your word is hard. Not being a man of your word is sin.

The understatement of all of eternity is: “Thank God for Christ.”

SUNDAY SOUNDS OF PRAISE-O What a Savior-Larry Ford

A Study in Joshua

Chapter 6

Joshua was successor to Moses (Deuteronomy 31:23). The Talmud says that Joshua wrote all but the last 5 verses. Phineas wrote those. Joshua means “Jehovah is salvation” — the same word in the New Testament is Jesus (as in Hebrews 4:8).

God’s Character:

God is to be followed, even when we don’t understand what He is doing.

Verses 1- 5 - The people in Jericho were afraid of the God’s people. They knew how powerful God was. They did all that they could do to protect themselves. They built a wall that was better than the Titanic. It is strong and formidable and foreboding. They thought, “Even God can’t destroy these walls.

Dame Kathleen Kenyon, a famous archaeologist excavated Jericho. She concluded Jericho had been destroyed in about 1550 BC, at least 150 years before Joshua. And so the matter rested until recently. Then, in the March-April 1990 issue of the Biblical Archaeology Review, we find that Jericho really was destroyed during Joshua’s life time.

The faith of the believer does not rest upon the shovel of the archaeologist  Jericho represents the world to the believer.

God’s Love of His Creation:

He will show His creation the way. That way will not always be according to our own understanding (Proverbs 3:5).

God’s Plan for the Redemption of His Creation:

Verses 6-11 – God revealed His plans to Joshua, not to the priests or the people. He laid out a preposterous plan: walk around, walk around some more and then shout. What kind of a plan is that?

God became a man, Jesus, who was attacked by His own religious leaders, was executed by them and placed in a borrowed tomb. What kind of a plan is that? It is the perfect plan of salvation.

Verses 12- 21 – Imagine what must have gone on in the peoples’ minds. Total silence for 7 days? Marching around the wall for 7 days? Then, marching 7 times around the wall on the 7th day? What would have gone on in your mind? How would you have reacted? Would you have followed God” What about today?

Verses 22-29 – The salvation of Rahab was early Biblical evidence that God’s salvation is available to anyone who would put their faith in God.

In Hebrews 11:30, we are told that the walls of Jericho fell by faith. Whose faith? Faith in whom?

The fall of Jericho is a picture of God’s love for and protection of His creation. Joshua’s faith is a picture of the faith we have in the salvation afforded by Christ.

On Reading Scripture

All Scripture must be interpreted in terms of the meaning of the word used, the verse, the chapter, the book, the Covenant and the Bible as a whole.

Homer and Jethro were out hunting. Night fell and they set up camp, ate dinner and climbed into their sleeping bags.

At about 2:00 AM Homer woke up and found himself gazing into the night sky. He reached over and shook Jethro, waking him up.

“Look up at the sky.” He said. What does it tell you?”

Jethro thought a minute then he said, “It tells me that the stars are out, that the universe is vast, that the North Star is right where it belongs and that God is still on His throne. Why, what does it tell you?”

“You numb chuck!” It tells me that someone has stolen our tent!”

See, everything Jethro said was true, but he completely missed the point.

This same thing happens when interpreting Scripture. We read the words, but because we do not understand the context, we miss the whole point.

Take I Timothy, for instance. Paul begins by stating his concern about false teaching in the church. He reiterates his concern in the middle of the book and states it again toward the end of the book. This should give us some hint that his subject is false teachings in the church. If we miss that, we miss the point of everything else he says.

Paul gives two examples of the false teachings that were going on: false teachings about marriage and false teaching about what foods may be eaten. Both of those topics are supremely important, because marriage is always a picture of Christ and the absence of restrictions on what foods we may eat is a picture of freedom and inclusiveness of the gentile in Christ.

There were other false teachings, but these two were of paramount importance in Paul’s mind, as they are to God. The discussion about overseers, deacons and women is totally surrounded by his discussion of false teachings. This is consistent with the teaching of Titus. Elders (church leaders) must be grounded in, trained in and steeped in correct doctrine. Their personal lives will reflect that grounding.

Be careful in reading Scripture that you do not ascribe meaning to passages that are not there. Be certain that you get the point, which is always, always the gospel.

SO WHERE'S IT ALL FROM?

So...Where did atoms come from?

Was there a time when bunches of electrons, protons, neutrons, fissiles, cations, quarks and other sub-atomic particles floating around in nothingness that suddenly combined in just the right way to form atoms? How did that happen enough times to form the 118 or so atoms in the Periodic Table? And what about the Lanthanides and the Actinides?

So...where did molecules come from?

Was there a time when the formerly mentioned atoms were floating around in nothingness that began to come together in just the right way to form the molecules present at the Big Bang?

So...where did silicone, graphite, iron, gold, silver, water and other entities in abundance on earth come from? After the Big Bang did they just happen to be attracted to one another differently from all other known entities in what is now the universe and get formed here on earth?

So...where did DNA come from? Did the formerly mentioned atoms floating around just happen to come together in 440 million nucleotides to form a single DNA molecule somewhere? If so, how did it know what to do without another DNA molecule made of 440 million nucleotides to join with?

So...maybe those formerly mentioned electrons, protons, neutrons, fissiles, cations, quarks and other sub-atomic particles floating around in nothingness just always were. If so, how do we know?

Ahh! I see. We just believe that's the way it was.

Sounds like faith to me.

So...where did cars come from?

Was there a time when the various formerly mentioned atoms, molecules and earthly elements just came together in such a a way as to form steel, plastic, rubber and other materials in just the right ways and with just the right combination to make a thingy that would crank up, run, roll and carry people?

Ridiculous? It seems obvious that cars are the result of intelligent design.............

SUNDAY SOUNDS OF PRAISE-Above All-Lenny LeBlanc

More about Elders

The following paragraph is from a discussion by a leading pastor/theologian about the position known as “elders” in the church.

“An overseer, then, must be above reproach.” Being above reproach means that there is nothing for which one can be accused or blamed; those things which could render a man as being validly accused of sinful behavior. He must not have a chargeable character; that is, he has an impeccable reputation. He lives his life in such a way that no one can accuse him of scandalizing the body of Christ in any way. This is the kind of man that, even with his critics, can find no fault in his character.”

The application comes from I Timothy 3 and Titus 1.

It is important to place the statement in the context of the book of Timothy, which is “false teachers.” This context makes Paul’s statement more about elders being men who properly interpret Scripture. Remember, both before and after this statement, Paul expressed concern about false teachers. He used marriage as an illustration of what some of the false teaching was. He was concerned that those who serve in leadership in the church are subscribed to correct doctrine.

The implication of this is that those who wish to serve in various leadership positions, pastors, deacons, teachers, etc. must teach right doctrine about marriage, what foods can be eaten and (by extension) other issues.

I Timothy 1:3b-7: “…command certain people not to teach false doctrines any longer ⁴ or to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. Such things promote controversial speculations rather than advancing God’s work—which is by faith. ⁵ The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. ⁶ Some have departed from these and have turned to meaningless talk. ⁷ They want to be teachers of the law, but they do not know what they are talking about or what they so confidently affirm.”

I Timothy 4 1-3: “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. ² Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. ³ They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth.”

Titus 1:5 – “The reason I left you in Crete was that you might put in order what was left unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you.”

So it appears that the discussion about elders is more about their understanding of the gospel from the scriptures than it is about divorce, remarriage, polygamy or anything else.

The purity of the gospel message is paramount to Christian leadership. All leaders of the church are “elders,” whether they are pastors, music leaders, Bible teachers or whatever position they hold. “Elder” is not an office and “elders” are appointed, not elected.  “Elders” are servants, not rulers.

Whether a church used the title “Elders” or not, it leaders must be schooled in correct doctrine and their doctrine must be in keeping with the gospel message. Wild, hair-brained philosophies and theosophies must not be a part of any leader’s repertoire.

LET THE CHURCH BE THE CHURCH

Which has more drawing power, music or the gospel?

Which has more drawing power, clothing or the gospel?

Which has more drawing power, lighting or the gospel?

Which has more drawing power, the audio or the gospel?

If anything has more drawing power than the gospel, it is false drawing power. It might look like more people are responding, but if they are not responding to the gospel, there is no hope to them.

“Well,” I hear you say, “If they don’t come (for the entertainment aspect of church) then they will not hear the gospel and thus can’t be drawn to it.”

Oh? So what if they come for the entertainment aspect of the church and don’t hear the gospel? Has there been growth?

And what about the music? If the music is not contemporary, will they come to hear it and thus hear the gospel? If the music is the draw, then any response will be to the music and not to the gospel.

Have you ever heard anyone say, “The style of music is not important. What is important is the worship.” The meaning seems to be that if we just play more contemporary music we will ‘meet the needs’ of this generation.

Oh? Doesn’t that ideology work both ways? If there should be no argument over whether to use contemporary music, why should there be an argument over whether to use “traditional” music (whatever that means)?

What about the clothing issue? Have you noticed that people dress in some pretty shabby looking clothes in our churches today. Is that worthy of coming before the King of Kings and Lord of Lords? Clothing is not the message, but should we not bring our best offering in everything we do, including clothes?

If the lighting is distracting, does that hurt or help getting the message out? If the audio is imperfect, is it helpful in getting the message out? Is it the special effects that attract people, or is it the gospel? Does the sophistication of the lighting and audio attract people?

Should the church even be trying to “attract” unbelievers? Is there any Biblical support for that? Did not the early church, beginning at Pentecost simply present the gospel message, and wasn’t that enough to attract about 3,000 in one place that day?

If your church is trying to attract unbelievers, it is seeking to build something that is not a church.

The well known, campy church called Willow Creek Church came to the conclusion that they had been doing things wrong all along (surprise?). They were struggling and decided to find a new way to attract non-believers to build their church.

I have news for you. The church is not a collection of non-believers. The church is a body of baptized believers. Don’t you understand that the message of the gospel is an offense to the world of nonbelievers?

Yet, if the Holy Spirit is working in a church, the church will attract people. If the church lifts up Christ, all
men will be drawn to Him. You are much more likely to build a church of baptized believers if the message is the gospel, and only the gospel.

A church does not need to be bipolar in its approach. It should just be who it is and yield itself to the movement of the Holy Spirit. He will bring the people in. The people He brings in will be responsive to the gospel message and people will be saved and the church will fill with baptized believers.

Remember that the church is not the pastor, staff, deacons or committees. The church is the people; the body of baptized believers who make up the Body of Christ.

Let the church be the church. Let the people rejoice. Christ’s church will never fail. The gates of Hell cannot prevail against it if its message is steadfastly the gospel.

I recommend to you a significant video: John McArthur on Church Growth

I do not agree with everything he says all the time, but this video makes a strong case for the purity of the message of the gospel.

What Prayer Is Not

In its basic form, prayer is communication with God. It is both speaking to and listening to God. Some things are necessary to pray about, some are not. The things that are not necessary to pray about are those things that have been commanded of us in the Bible. Far too often prayer is used for things other than communication with God.

Here are some things that are not appropriate in our prayers.

It is not appropriate to tell God what He does (or does not) know.  For example: “Lord, You know I need this new car. My car is run down and old.” He does indeed know the condition of your car and you don’t need to remind Him. He has a very good memory.

It is not necessary to tell Him His name every second or third breath. An example would be: “Lord, we come to you in praise and Lord, we love you and Lord, you are great and mighty and Lord, this, that or the other.” He knows who He is and only needs to be addressed once. We would not do that with a friend. We would not say, “John, I’m going to the movie tonight and John, I’m going to buy some popcorn because, John I really like popcorn and John movie popcorn is so good.” John would quickly get very tired of the conversation.

It is not required that we preach a sermon to others when we pray. We do not need to list all of the important doctrines of God in our prayers. Nor do we need to tell Him what those around us should be or not be doing. The focus of prayer should be God, not those around us.

Prayer does not need to be in Authorized King James English. We do not need to pray, “Father, thou are mighty and thou art merciful. We beseech thee, Father to show forth thine omnipotence this day.” He understands all languages, French, Arabic, Russian and all others, including 21^st Century English.

God does not need to be addressed with affected language. He is “Father,” just like your father is your father. He does not need to be called, “Fawther, Gowad, or Loward,” unless that is also the way you address your biological father.

It is wrong to present God with a laundry list of your desires in your prayers. He is not a great Santa in the sky. He declares that He knows your needs before you ask. There is nothing wrong with asking for certain things, but James cautions us that we often ask in disbelief or amiss. Our prayer should be designed to find out what God’s agenda is and to get on board with it.

“Praying the Scripture” is fine, so long as it is not done to manipulate God. God is sovereign, and it is wrong to try to manipulate Him to our needs or way of thinking. “Praying the Scripture” should be a way of expressing our agreement with His agenda as revealed in Scripture.

Jesus said that when we pray we should address God as our Father, praise Him in our prayer, submit to His will, provide our daily needs, confess our sins, make us forgiving, deliver us from evil, and close the prayer with praise.

We should not pray “The Lord’s Prayer” in some rote, vainly repetitious manner. There is nothing wrong with repeating the Lord’s Prayer, but it should be done with an understanding of what it says and what it means, not as something we memorized as a child. It is far more important to include the elements of the Lord’s Prayer in our own words from our own hearts.

Exodus 1, 2 and the Life of Moses

Moses In His Ark

We cannot understand the life of Moses without first understanding the book of Genesis and what it was all about.

In Genesis we learned that God created the world perfectly, but man messed it up. That introduced death through sin. As an illustration, we are told that Joseph was placed in a coffin (Genesis 50:26)

Redemption is the theme of Exodus. Redemption by the blood of the Lamb. Exodus is a picture of God’s redemptive character.

In the 400 years between Genesis and Exodus, 70 people in Egypt filled the land. They grew to about 3 Million people.

Two reasons they came to Egypt: To prepare his people for the land of promise through the safety of Egypt, and to prepare the land for His people.

In Genesis 15:16 Abraham was told he would become a huge nation. Then he would see that his offspring would go to Egypt until the iniquity of the sin of the Amorites, the Canaanites had risen beyond help. God was exceedingly merciful in giving the Amorites time to turn from their debauchery. But they did not. The destruction of the Amorites was like putting a rabid down to keep from infecting other dogs. After 400 years God  “put them out of their misery" to protect other people from their perverted sexual and moral sins.

The new king of Egypt (Seti the First) was afraid of Israel due to their numbers. So he made slaves of them, to keep them in check.. The more the Egyptians afflicted Israel, the more Israel grew, which grieved the Egyptians. Satan inspired Pharaoh to destroy the Jewish people because he (Satan) knows Messiah would be coming from Israel. Satan is always trying to get rid of Israel. He tried through Hitler and Hussein and now he's trying through Iran and the other radical Islamic nations.

God knew the only way to increase Israel’s strength was to allow them to go through a workout of their “faith muscle.” Faith grows through being exercised.

Pharaoh ordered that boy babies were to be killed, but the midwives refused to do so. The Israelite women feared God more than they did the Egyptians and would not kill the boy babies. God dealt well with the midwives because they obeyed Him instead of the Egyptians. God gave the barren midwives children, even thought they were not supposed to be able to. Doing what God says to do is always more important than doing what civil law requires.

Instead of focusing on the lying of the midwives, God focused on the good they did.  That is His character. He focuses on our excellence, instead of our failings. He is exceedingly kind. God is so kind that He provided a way of salvation for us.

Exodus 2:1-25

Moses’ mother was a great visionary and a great organizer. She knew Moses was a woman of the Word. She knew Israel was being judged. She knew male babies were being drowned in the river, yet that’s where she took Moses. She knew the story of Noah saved in an ark, and she prepared an ark for Moses. (The work for ark in the stories of Noah and Moses are the same, and these are the only places the word is used.) She believed God’s Word.

The daughter of Pharaoh just so happened to come down to wash herself and when she saw the arc she saw the crying baby she melted with compassion for him. Moses’ sister Merriam offered her mother to nurse her own baby and to be paid to do it.

“Moses” means “drawn out of the water.” (Would that make his name, Drew?) He was the first Baptist, drawn out of the water.

At age 40, Moses saw the burdens of the Israelites, and when he saw an Egyptians hit an Israelite, he killed him. Pharaoh sought to kill Moses to save face, so Moses fled to Midian. (Moses tried to help God our by killing the Egyptian, but although he wanted to be used in ministry, he looked sideways, instead of looking up.)

Moses had known greatness and then he knew rejection. Moses learned to be content with his exile. Paul said he had learned to be content in whatever situation he found himself.  If we are not content where we are, we will not be content with whatever happened, bad or good, in the future. Contentment comes from within, not from without.  It comes from, and only from, being satisfied having Jesus in our hearts.

Moses named his son, Gershom. Gershom means “I’m a stranger here.”  Become a Gershom. Realize that this world is not your home. You are a stranger here. You belong to Heaven, if you have Jesus.

Moses  – A Brief Overview of “The Lawgiver”

Moses was a prince of Egypt, but he became a shepherd in Midian. Had he not been humbled, he would never have been able to become the deliverer of Israel. If he had not been humbled, he would not have become an effective leader for God.

After the burning bush experience and the experience with rod becoming a snake and a rod again, Moses returned to Egypt.

One of the most significant events of Moses’ life was recorded in Exodus 4:21-27. The Lord tells Moses to tell the Egyptians that Israel is His “…firstborn son,” a picture that Christ is coming from Israel. He then is about to kill Moses when Zipporah circumcised him, drawing blood. She said, “Surely you are a bridegroom to me.” And the Lord allowed him to live.

Real life (eternal life) can only come with the shedding of blood. Once Jesus shed His blood for us, we were fit for Him to be the bridegroom and for us to be His bride.

The plague on the firstborn in Exodus 11 is a picture of the death of God’s firstborn. The Passover of chapter 12 is a picture of God’s love, mercy and grace. Jesus is the Passover Lamb, not like the lambs used in Israel’s Passover feasts (imperfect), but a perfect, spotless Lamb, whose blood is sufficient to cover our sins.

Just as God promised he would, Moses, after the plagues on the gods of Egypt, led the Israelites out of Egypt in the remarkable events surrounding the parting of the waters of the Red Sea. He eventually led them to the foot of Mount Sinai, where he received the Law.

The Law given to Moses was perfect in every way (as we are told in Romans). As Jesus revealed in His Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5 & 6), it could not be kept, for it was a matter of the attitude of the heart, not of the flesh. The entire book of Romans is about the nature of the Law, it inability to be kept, the resulting separation from God and the final solution found in, and only in, Jesus Christ.

The giving of the Law was the culmination of and the very essence of the Old Covenant. It set the stage for revealing the need for the New Covenant in Christ.

It is important to know that the Law is just as perfect today as it was when it was given to Moses. Not one jot or tittle of it has ever been changed or altered. If you want to be saved you have two choices: keep the Law perfectly by fulfilling it completely or having someone else fulfill it for you. Since you cannot fulfill it yourself, Christ fulfilled it for us. (“Think not that I have come to destroy the Law but to fulfill it.”)

Our salvation is accomplished by the perfection offered to God by Christ through His death, burial and resurrection. We are saved from the penalty of breaking God’s Law given through Moses by trusting in, and only in, the finished work of Christ at the cross of Calvary.

A CONCEPTUAL LOOK AT ELDERS IN THE CHURCH

The word “elder” is used nearly 70 times in the New Testament. Of those times, almost half are clearly referring to leaders within the JEWISH community. “Elder” was used to speak of the “traditions of the elders,” “elders of the People,” “priests, scribes and elders.” Those were the respected leaders of the community, the Synagogues and the JEWISH Sanhedrin.

“Elder” in the New Testament comes from the Greek word Presbuteros (πρεσβύτερος), meaning “older person.” By itself, the word did not refer to an office in the church, just the men who were older in the faith. In some contexts, it seems to refer to a group of appointed older persons who watched after the spiritual needs of the church. No specific age is given to "elders," but the connotation of seniority and experience implies maturity, dignity experience and honor.

John Piper explains the background of the term “elders.” “Almost all early societies or religious communities were guided in some way by elders, that is, by the older, experienced wise men of the group. According to  Genesis 50:7, there were “elders of Egypt” and according to Numbers 22:7, there were elders of Moab and Midian. So there is nothing unique or unusual about having elders in positions of authority in JEWISH history.

“In general, then, we can say that, while through the long history of Israel the role of the elder no doubt changed, they were the older men of the community who, because of their wisdom in counsel and the natural honor due to them (Leviticus 19:32), became the official administrators or leaders of the community.”

Piper goes on: “The early church was born on JEWISH soil, its first members and leaders were JEWISH, its Lord was JEWISH, and it saw itself as the fulfillment of the JEWISH Scriptures and as the true JEWISH people of God. Therefore it is understandable that the church, as it emerged from Judaism, would in some ways pattern its life and structure on the life and structure of God’s people in the Old Testament of which they were now the true posterity.”

In Acts 11:30 (the first New Testament mention of “elders”), elders were apparently the older men responsible for the general welfare of the church. We know nothing about how they became elders, and we can only surmise that the reason they were elders at all is because of the pattern already set in Judaism.

The picture in Acts 15 is that the elders, along with the apostles, have the responsibility under the guidance of the Holy Spirit to make decisions regarding ethical (Acts 15:29) and doctrinal matters. We may assume that these significant decisions were laid before the whole church where they were approved (Acts 15:22). I Timothy presents elders as those responsible for straightening out the wrong doctrines that had crept into the church. There Paul also urges the church to select elders who were able to refute those wrong doctrines with their life example.

The term “elder” as a title for a church leader occurs in the Pauline letters only three times: I Timothy 5:17, I Timothy 5:19 and Titus 1:5. The title, itself, does not seem of great importance to Paul.

We may note that in each church were appointed several elders; we don’t know how many. Their installation was by appointment, not election, a feature we will find true to elders throughout the New Testament. The responsibility of the elder/overseer is to “feed the church,” no doubt in the sense in which Jesus said to Peter, “Feed my sheep,” (John 21:17)).

Kelly suggests in his commentary that those who teach are the so-called “overseers” or “bishops” and those who don’t are the deacons. In other words, he thinks that the term “elder” embraces both bishops and deacons.

Elders’ role can perhaps best be summed up in the phrase “overseeing” and hence the term “elder” or “overseer” or “bishop” are sometimes used interchangeably. However, it is uncertain whether the term “elder” was a more inclusive one also embracing the role of deacon as well.
The elders’ oversight of the church involved guarding the flock spiritually, like a shepherd guards his flock from wolves (Acts 20:28), and feeding the flock. The feeding happens as the elders “labor in the Word and teaching” (1 Timothy 5:17; 3:2, Titus 1:9; Acts 20:27, 32). But 1 Timothy 5:17 may mean that there were ruling elders who were not involved in preaching and teaching. In addition to the spiritual ministry, the elders were also responsible for certain physical needs of the flock (Acts 20:35).

Is there a Biblical requirement that the church have elders? No. Does it seem likely that the Biblical model for the ministry structure of the church can include elders? Maybe. That cannot, however, be dealt with on the basis of a doctrine or a requirement.

From the texts, as well as the contexts, it is important that elders must never be a short-cut to the congregational form of church polity that arises from the priesthood of the believer. In other words, elders are not to rule the church or .lord themselves over the church, but must encourage and support each member’s Biblical right to be a priest.

Note: Because there are almost 70 mentions of “elders” in the New Testament, I have not tried to present an exhaustive study, but a representative one. I would recommend Young’s or Strong’s Analytical Concordances for a complete list of the mentions of “elders” in Scripture.

Are Elders Compatible with a Congregational Form of Government?

The short answer to the title question is “Not really.” But there is a longer answer that is not quite so simple.

The term “elders” is Biblical, let’s make that clear. The issue is really about what the term means and how it is to be applied in churches. On this there is not wide-spread agreement. The word "elder" is consistently translated in the New Testament from the Greek work presbuteros. The English words "priest," "presbyter," and "elder" all come from presbuteros, which means an aged person.

A comprehensive look at the Biblical application of the word “elders” will be in tomorrow’s post.

Mark Dever, pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, D.C., argued that a body of elders is the New Testament model of church structure. He made a clear distinction between "elder-led" and "elder-rule," flatly rejecting the Presbyterian model that makes a distinction between teaching elders and ruling elders. Instead, Dever offered a biblical argument for an elder-led form of congregationalism in which the congregation serves as a "final court of appeal" in the decision-making process.

The problem arises when we realize that under the elder-rule model, the congregation often has little or no say in the matters of the church. A select group rules and controls all or most of the decisions of the church. This is not consistent with the concept of a congregational form of government, nor does it agree with the substantial Biblical view.

James Leo Garrett, distinguished professor emeritus of theology at Southwestern Seminary, said the practice of elder rule in Baptist churches constitutes a serious erosion of congregational polity. He believes that congregational polity is being rejected in some Southern Baptist churches because it is time-consuming and sometimes difficult.

Garrett said, "Decision-making as to the life, ministry and mission of a church should not be rigidly separated from the living out of the life, ministry and mission. Members who are involved in one should be involved in the other."

Indeed, there have been incidents of the leadership of a congregational church encouraging a switch to an elder rule format in order to simplify the business of the church. Others have done so in order to reduce the power of the congregation to introduce issues and bring them to a vote for approval. This later is a very serious breach of the understanding a congregation might have as to how the church polity operates.

The elder-led model as a form of congregationalism does not present as many issues as the elder-rule model. This is partly due to a general consensus on the biblical teaching about the number of church offices.

David Dockery, president of Union University in Jackson, Tennessee has this to say: "It is commonly agreed by all that there are not three distinct church offices, but two in the New Testament -- that of deacon and that of elder/overseer/pastor, God intended for there to be at least one leader and perhaps a team of leaders in each congregation." That would correspond to a lead pastor and any number of co-pastors or associate pastors. Dockery said, “…being elder-led is quite consistent with congregational polity."

All things considered, the issue of elders in a congregational church boils down to one of motive. If the motive for using elders is suspect, the whole process should not be undertaken. If elders are chosen to assist the church in leadership, while maintaining the integrity of congregationalism, then it becomes a matter of preference.

The preference of the congregation, that is.

THE THEOLOGY OF MUSIC IN WORSHIP

Praising God with Joy

So often I have heard things like, "If the words can't be understood, there's little point in the song." I have also heard things like, "If it does not glorify Jesus, it's not worthy of worship." Those are both true, but there are other important points to be understood about worship music as well.

For one thing, if the congregation does not know the song, they have no opportunity to use it to sing praise to the Lord.

In worship the other day, I looked around the auditorium from the back where I was sitting. I noticed that for all three songs that were used, only about 20% were singing. I asked some of them about it after the service and their universal response was that they did not know the songs.

It is inexcusable to use music for praise that the congregation does not know or that is not really easy to pick up on. That is an anathema. They are deliberately excluded from the worship experience.

Now it is probably true that at no time will all of the congregation know the songs, even if they are well known hymns. New Christians might not know them. More mature Christians might have come from another denomination that did not use those particular songs. But the songs chosen for worship should always be songs that most of the congregation can sing most of the time. Otherwise, why bother?

New songs are great, but they should be introduced to the congregation over time, perhaps one week by the instrumentalist, the next week by the praise team or choir, then as an offertory. Once the congregation has heard the song often, it can then feel comfortable singing it.

That means it can take a long time to introduce a new song to the congregation, right? Right. That's a good thing.

I have often heard how the style of music is not important (a line of thought that ought to work both ways, but usually means, "We're going to force our style of music on you whether you like it or not). That may well be true. But if the song is not known by the congregation, it should not be used until they can worship with it.

That requires a lot of repeating of songs they already know while they are being exposed to the new song(s). That's very true. Repeats are fine. Nobody I know buys a CD, plays it once and then discards it. CDs are usually played over and over. The same is true of digital music on an I-Pod.

The second important feature of good congregational music is that it must be theologically correct. It is appalling how much abject heresy is allowed to be sung in our churches, in both new and old songs.

One song that is heretical in it message is a "great old hymn," named, "I Am Satisfied with Jesus." What an absolute travesty! Not because we should not be satisfied with Jesus. Of course we should. The issue is with the question that closes the refrain of the song, "The question comes to me as I think of Calvary: 'Is my Savior satisfied with me?'" The question implies a kind of spiritual behaviorism that pleases God, which is impossible. We cannot please God with our actions. We can only please Him with our faith. Righteous action should follow our faith, but it is with our faith that God is pleased.

Another song I've heard is not so old (but not really new, either). It reads: He became a man like me, laid aside his deity, to feel my every need. And all the hurts I ever knew, Jesus Christ went through,  to live his life through me.

Laid aside His deity? When did He do that? He never did that! He was from the beginning, is now and ever shall be one and the same with God! When the Son of God became a man in the womb of the Virgin Mary did He lay aside His deity? When God was born in a humble stable in Bethlehem did He become less than God? The answer to these questions is infinitely more important than the writer of these cleverly rhyming lyrics ever considered. “He became a man like me” is true, but “laid aside his deity”? No way!

“Shout to the Lord” is used widely in contemporary worship circles. It won Song of the Year at the Dove Awards in 1998. It has been estimated that it is sung by 30 million Christians around the world. It espouses the importance of world-wide unity, which, of course, is the false ecumenical philosophy. The overall theme of this song is in open and direct rebellion to the Word of God.

If a church uses songs by: GERON DAVIS, BRIAN DOERKSEN, RICK FOUNDS, KEITH AND KRISTYN GETTY, JACK HAYFORD, author of the song Majesty (which teaches the Pentecostal kingdom-now theology), GRAHAM KENDRICK, MICHAEL LEDNER, MARTY NYSTROM, MARTY SAMPSON, and even MICHAEL W. SMITH, you had better look closely at the words to determine whether they are doctrinally correct. People like CHRIS TOMLIN, STEWART TOWNSEND, VINEYARD CHURCHES, DARLENE ZSCHECH and the HILLSONG are worthy of scrutiny.

Sometimes the songs written by these people were never meant to be heretical. They were often written to force a rhyme in the lyric using some trite or spiritual sounding phrases. But people who learn these songs and memorize them are often memorizing false doctrines (see I Timothy for a treatise on false doctrine).

Far too much contemporary praise music is filled with great spiritual deception and apostasy, and central to that apostasy is the Charismatic movement. Its visions are false; its doctrine is corrupt; its practice is confusion and disorder. Fundamental Baptists and Bible-believing churches that use charismatic contemporary praise music will find that this music brings with it a philosophy that will soon change the character of any fundamentalist church.

SUNDAY SOUNDS OF PRAISE-Unfailing Love-Evie Karlsson (from out of the past)

A Study in Genesis - Chapter 37

One fourth of Genesis is about Joseph. It took only five words explain all of the cosmos “He made the cosmos also.” God’s priority with Joseph is to make him a picture of Christ. Anywhere you touch in the story of Joseph you’ll see Jesus. He is one of two of whom there is mentioned no sin (Daniel is the other). Joseph sinned, but his sin is not mentioned. He lived a life of integrity (not much of that around nowadays).

Verse 2 - Jacob (Jacob and Israel are the same person) lived in Canaan.  Joseph was in harmony with his father and accountable to his father (a picture of Jesus).  Being in harmony with God results from following the right course. We will either fear the Lord (the beginning of wisdom) or we will fear man. If we fear man we face a certain snare. Our concern is always: What do they think of me?

Verse 3 - The coat of many colors is literally a coat of big sleeves. That coat would indicate that Jacob put Joseph in charge of the family affairs. Usually the older child got the big sleeves. For this, Joseph was hated by his brothers like Jesus was hated by “his own (the Jews and Pharisees).”

Verse 4-11 - Joseph tells his brothers about his dream of his authority.  In verse 9, Joseph tells of his brothers making obeisance to him. In verse 10, He says that even mom and dad would bow to Joseph. Why? Joseph would speak the truth even if the truth was unpopular or offensive. In this picture, the sheaves are the world’s resources and the stars are the world’s rulers. Both will bow down to Jesus some day.

12 - 13 - Joseph's brothers went to Shechem where their sister had been raped and Levi and Simian became mass murderers. Great place to go.

Verse 14 - Jacob (Israel) sent Joseph to go check up on his brothers welfare. As Jesus did what His Father asked, so Joseph did as his father asked. Shechem was bad, but Calvary was worse. Joseph left the Valley of Hebron. Hebron means fellowship. I’m sending you out of fellowship and into Shechem. When Jesus cried from the cross, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken me?” He left the fellowship of His Father to bear the penalty for our sins.

Look for Jesus in whatever Scripture you are reading. If you don’t you will miss the point and no matter what applications you might make, they will be wrong if they do not include Jesus.

Jesus told of the landlord who sent messengers to gather the rent. Each was killed. The landlord said, “I will send my son. Him they will reverence.” But they killed the son. The Pharisees had killed prophet after prophet (messengers) and they killed the Son (Jesus).

Verses 15-22 - Jacob thought his children would reverence his son. Joseph found his brothers in a place called Dothan. Dothan means “double sickness.” The brothers sought to kill Joseph. Reuben tried to prevent them from killing him. Reuben is a picture of Pilate. Do you remember when Pilate tried to get Jesus off the hook with the Pharisees? His “brothers” wanted Him dead, but Pilate saw no fault in Him. He had Him whipped but did not kill Him. Like Reuben tried to get Joseph off the hook.

Verses 23- 28 - They stripped Joseph of his big sleeved robe, like Jesus’ robe was ripped from Him. A company of Ishmaelites (do you remember Ishmael, the source of Islam?) came along and the brothers sold Joseph to the them for silver. That should bring to mind that Judas sold out Jesus silver.The Jews wanted the gentiles to rid them of Jesus. The Pharisees could not execute people (unless you were a woman caught in adultery or wanted to push Jesus over a cliff), so they convinced the Roman government to do it for them..

Joseph's brothers threw him into a deep hole from which they though he could not escape. (Pilate said Jesus would not be able to get out of the tomb. He put his seal on the tomb to ensure that it was secure.)

The brothers took the big sleeved coat and dipped them in blood. Jacob (Israel) thought Joseph had been killed by a beast. This is a picture of how the Pharisees paid the Roman soldiers to lie abut the empty tomb. They said someone had come and taken Jesus’ body.

Jacob (Israel) was deceived by his kids the same way he had deceived his own dad. Jacob mourned for his son. Jacob (Israel) rent his clothes.

Ever the mercenaries, the Midianites sold Joseph to the Egyptians as a slave.

Remember that all of Scripture looks at Jesus. God says every chapter of Scripture is important. As Christians, we are to personally become an illustration of Christ. That’s who we are to be individually and as the church.

The Church at Worship

The church is the Body of Christ and the Bride of Christ. What does that mean? How does that affect what we do and how we do it?

Let’s begin with an understanding of who Christ is. Christ is from the Greek word for the Old Testament Hebrew word Messiah. Jesus is Christ. As Christ, He is one with God. If you know Him you know the Father. According to John 1, He is the one through whom God created all that has been created.

Christ is not just some religious leader who lived and died. He is the Son of God. He is the embodiment of Yahweh. He is alive and worthy of both our praise and our best.

If He is to get anything done on this earth, He will get it done through His body, the church. If He is to be honored, He will be honored by His bride, the church. That is how He has chosen to work.

Each Sunday we meet to worship Him and to celebrate His resurrection. His resurrection on the first day of the week is why we meet on Sunday and not on the Sabbath.

Because of who He is, Jesus deserves our very best, not our hand-me-downs. If He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, is He not more important than a governor, a prince, a king or a president? Isn’t He worthy of our entire being? Of course He is.

So why are our worship services often so sloppily put together as though “…after all, it’s just us poor little Christians doing something for sweet Jesus. He’ll understand.” Do you think He understands that attitude?

Worship services should be great, grand, majestic and filled with real heart-born praise. They should not be fraught with distractions, stumbling progressions and thoughtless mistakes.

There are significant differences between the ability of many small churches and many large churches to accomplish well executed worship services. Some small churches do not have a staff that is trained, members who are proficient or the resources to put together a well ordered worship service.

Sadly, far too many large churches, who have more resources, treat worship as though it were nothing more than a church-wide fellowship, a time of fun and chaos.

A well planned worship service deliberately invites the congregation’s participation. It is devoid of long pauses between the events of worship. It is not distracted by squeals and shrieks from the sound system. It has no long waits while the next person on the “program” walks from half-way back in the auditorium to mount the stage and give his testimony or whatever. The announcements are well rehearsed and presented effectively, not with sterility, but with excellence and enthusiasm.

In a well “orchestrated” worship service, the progression is seamless. Participants are where they belong when they belong there. They know what they are to do, how to do it and how much time they have to do it. As the old saying goes, “Proper prior planning prevents poor pitiful performance.”

Great worship does not just happen. It does not occur “when God shows up.” (Ahem…if He is omnipresent, He was there all along, wasn’t He?) Great worship is hard, even exhausting work. Just the laying out of a given worship service can be expected to take several hours of intense, focused planning. Implementing it requires even more time and effort. It takes rehearsal, practice, communicating and execution.

The purpose of all of this work and quality is not to show off how well leaders can do things. It is to lead the congregation in a deliberate, fulfilling worship experience that they can know they’re a part of. It is to find the line that distinguishes between “worldly professionalism” and true, spiritual excellence.

We take care of our bodies, don’t we? We feed them, clothe them and cover them with a roof. Does not a bride want to present her best to her groom?

Should we do any less for the one who is the head of the Body, for our Bridegroom, Christ?

A COMMENTARY ON I TIMOTHY

Matthew 15:9

These are the words of the one who introduced the idea of the New Covenant: “I am against the prophets who wag their own tongues and yet declare ‘The Lord Declares.’” (Jeremiah 23:31). He is speaking about false prophets who teach false doctrines.

The book of I Timothy is often presented as a collection of instructions about grace, worship, servers, pastors, widows, elders, slaves and money. All of those things are in I Timothy, but they are not what the letter is about.

Some have presented I Timothy as a book on how to be a leader. That approach requires that one ignore what the book actually says. It is actually a book on how to avoid having leaders who espouse false doctrines in their lives and in their teachings in the church. That's important because the church is rife with teachers, deacons and other leaders who actually teach hypocrasy. Their false doctrines should have been known and they should never have been put in office.

If God says something once, it is important. If He says it twice, it is very, very important. If God says something three or more times, you can count on it, it is supremely important.

Paul mentions ONE TOPIC three times in his letter to Timothy. He introduces the subject, develops the subject and reiterates the subject. That subject is false doctrines in the Body of Christ. Everything in I Timothy relates to that one issue.

In chapter one, Paul introduces the subject of false doctrines. As a point of reference, he reviews what Christ has done for whom. In other words, he presents the gospel. He then speaks about orderly and respectful worship followed by the selection of leaders.

Why does Paul spend so much time dealing with sound worship and the careful selection of leaders? Paul did not want Timothy to have to deal with teachers of false doctrine in the leadership of the church.

In chapter 4, Paul delves more deeply into the nature and characteristics of false doctrine. He calls those teachers “hypocritical liars” with no conscience. He gives two very significant illustrations of what they are teaching. They are forbidding marriage and are calling some foods unclean. There are other false doctrines being taught, but Paul chooses these two for a very important reason: they are illustrative of the relationship between Christ and the church.

The concept of marriage, from Genesis to the Revelation, is a picture of Christ’s relationship to the church. The church is the Bride of Christ. To consider marriage something to be forbidden would be to deny that relationship. It would mean some would be prevented from becoming a part of the Body by marriage.

The idea that some foods are forbidden is contrary to Peter’s vision when all sorts of “unclean” animals were lowered before him and he was commanded to eat of them. When he resisted, God said that he was not to dare call unclean that which God had called clean. That is a picture of the universal availability of salvation. Anyone, Jew or Gentile, can be saved.

The teaching that some cannot be part of the Bride of Christ and the teaching that some cannot be saved because they are “unclean” are false doctrines. Paul tells Timothy to gently correct those who teach such nonsense. He tells him to stand strong, even though he is young and might be ridiculed. He says Timothy should preach the gospel and only the gospel, and have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives tales.

Paul tells Timothy to diligently teach the gospel and to watch his life and his doctrine as a strong witness to the grace of God.

In chapter 5, Paul explains how Timothy is to deal with those who teach false doctrines and how to live in a way that gives testimony to the doctrine he had been taught. His leadership will be recognized and accepted.

Paul wraps up this discourse on false doctrines with a further revelation about false doctrine. He draws a picture of those false teachers as conceited and understanding nothing. He exposes them as fakes who are really seeking financial gain. They love of money results in their willingness to take all kinds of unethical practices and teachings.

In contrast, Timothy is to flee all false doctrine, especially for monetary gain, and is to steep himself in the sound teachings of the gospel of eternal life.

In closing, Paul reminds Timothy that he has been entrusted with exposing false teachings and pointing people toward Jesus Christ. He is to turn away from false doctrine that pretends to be wise and knowledgeable. He is to be steeped in God’s grace.