A People for His Name

Acts through "First-Century Eyes"

April 6, 2011

Following the death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit began inspiring select believers to write the books of the NT. Believers likely first received the book of James, followed probably by these books in this order: Matthew; 1 & 2 Thessalonians; 1 & 2 Corinthians; Galatians; Romans; Luke; Ephesians; Colossians; Philemon; and Philippians. (Galatians may have been written after James and before Matthew; the earlier date would not change the discussion in this study in any way). After these 13 books, they received the book of Acts, followed by 13 more books.

Acts thus was written after ten of Paul’s Epistles had been written. The first recipients of the book therefore in the first place would have received the book as a welcome addition to their understanding of the apostles’ doctrine and practice that they already had from the then extant books of the NT.

Second, the first recipients of Acts would have known that Luke, the author of the book, was one of Paul’s closest ministry companions. They would have had every reason to believe that Luke knew Pauline theology about as well as anyone else in their day. They would also have known that Luke had heard Paul preach the gospel probably many scores of times and would thus be the leading expert in his day about Pauline preaching of the gospel. Given these realities, the believers would have had every reason to think that Luke’s representation in Acts of Pauline practice and theology concerning evangelism and discipleship would accord fully with Paul’s own teaching in his Epistles.

Third, they would have noted that Luke wrote Acts as a sequel to his Gospel because he addressed the book explicitly to the same person, Theophilus, and referred to his former treatise that he had written to him (Acts 1:1). They therefore would have known to interpret Acts in close connection with his Gospel. Because Luke had made known to them that his Gospel provided information that they needed for them to have certainty about the things that they had been instructed (Lk. 1:1-4), they would have inferred that Luke’s writing a sequel to it would mean that Acts was providing additional key information for them. They thus would have received the two books as vital information for their doctrine and practice.

Moreover, reading the two books as a unit, they would have noted the great length of Luke-Acts. In fact, if they had made a comparison of Luke-Acts to the Pauline Epistles, they would have discovered that Luke-Acts was far longer than all the existing Pauline Epistles of their time combined. (Even after Paul wrote his remaining books, the Pastorals, such a comparison would have shown that Luke-Acts still comprised a larger section of the NT than all the Pauline Epistles combined.) Noting the explicit purpose of Luke, the fact that Acts was a sequel to it, and the great length of Luke-Acts would have led the believers to stress the importance of both books in their doctrine and practice.

Fourth, they would have noted the distinctive teaching of Acts concerning apostolic evangelism and discipleship. Having access to both Luke and Paul, had they felt the necessity to do so, they would have been able to check on the validity of what Luke wrote in Acts. These believers, therefore, would have fully embraced all of its content without hesitation as additional divine instruction of exceeding value for their doctrine and practice concerning evangelism and discipleship.

I believe that we need to receive the book of Acts as the first believers received it. Acts is inspired of God, and at least concerning its teaching about evangelism and discipleship, is profitable for doctrine for us. Our evangelism and discipleship will only be all that God intends it to be if we heed what Acts teaches us about apostolic evangelism and discipleship.

By looking at Acts through “first-century eyes,” as explained above, we will be “perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works” (2 Tim. 3:17) so that we will glorify God through our fully following the apostles in our evangelism and discipleship.

In Discipleship, Evangelism, Interpretation

Flavel on Providence

April 5, 2011

John Flavel’s remarks on God’s providential care for His own deserve our sober contemplation:

     How woeful your case had been if the Lord had not mercifully saved you from many thousand temptations that have assaulted you! I tell you, you cannot estimate the mercies you possess by means of such providences. Are your names sweet, and your consciences peaceful, two mercies as dear to you as your two eyes? Why surely you owe them, if not wholly yet in great measure, to the aids and assistances Providence has given you all along the way you have passed through the dangerous tempting world to this day.
     Walk therefore suitably to this obligation of Providence also. And see that you thankfully own it. Do not impute your escapes from sin to accidents, or to your own watchfulness or wisdom.
     See also that you do not tempt Providence on the other hand, by an irregular reliance upon its care over you, without taking all due care of yourselves. ‘Keep yourselves in the love of God’ (Jude 21); ‘Keep thy heart with all diligence’ (Prov. 4.23). Though Providence keep you, yet it is in the way of your duty.
     Thus you see what care Providence has had over your souls in preventing the spiritual dangers and miseries that otherwise would have befallen you in the way of temptations (The Mystery of Providence, 93-94).

“The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished” (2 Pet. 2:9). Let us praise the Lord for His providential care for us and be diligent to be godly by His grace.

In Discipleship, Quotes

The Body of Christ

April 4, 2011

This post deals with some important truths from Scripture to which we should give proper attention. In part A, each Scripture quote is followed by some comments intended to provoke you to think on the truth of that Scripture and act accordingly, as the Lord leads. In part B, I give explanatory comments for the “Body of Christ” graphic that follows those comments.

A. Scripture passages and comments

“Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.” (1 Cor. 12:27, KJV) [“Now you are Christ’s body, and individually members of it.” NASB]

Believers are the body of Christ, and we are “individually members of it.” Every believer is in Christ and is a member of His body. For me to mistreat another believer is to harm a member of His body; to sin against another believer is to sin against Christ! Furthermore, apart from my proper working as an individual part of His body, the proper growth of the entire body for the building up of itself in love will not occur. So then, how should I be living in light of my being an individual member of the body of Christ?

“Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid.” (1 Cor. 6:15, KJV) [“Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take away the members of Christ and make them members of an harlot? May it never be.” NASB]

My body is a member of Christ. Not only my immaterial man, but also my whole man, including my body, is in Christ! What does that indicate about how I should view my body and what I should do with it?

“For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.” (Eph. 5:30, KJV) [“For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, because we are members of His body.” NASB]

Christ is nourishing and cherishing His body! Because my body is a member of Christ, what does that indicate about Christ’s activity with regard to my body, and how should that affect what I think about my body and what I do with or to it?

“But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.” (1 Sam. 16:7, KJV) [“But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” NASB]

That man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart, does not indicate that God therefore does not look in any sense on our outward appearance. Our bodies are members of Christ, and we are to glorify God in them, including by their appearance. What message about Christ and about God are we communicating to men as they look on the outward appearance of our bodies, which are members of Christ?

“And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Thess. 5:23, KJV) [“Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” NASB]

Paul prayed for God to sanctify entirely the Thessalonians. He prayed that their whole man, including their bodies, would be “preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” What does it mean for my body to be preserved complete, without blame? What does Paul’s example here indicate about how I should be praying for others (and for myself)?

“Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.” (Eph. 4:25, KJV) [“Therefore, laying aside falsehood, SPEAK TRUTH, EACH ONE of you, WITH HIS NEIGHBOR, for we are members one of another.” NASB]

All believers are “members one of another.” Because that is true, we should all be speaking truth with each other. The fact that we, including therefore our bodies (see above), are all members one of another indicates what else about how I should be living?

“For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.” (Romans 12:4, 5, KJV) [“For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.” NASB]

In Christ, all believers are “one body.” Not all believers “have the same function,” and each one of us is individually a member of everyone else in the body of Christ! What implications do these truths have for my living? Because we are all one body in Christ, every decision that I make, including decisions about my body, affects the whole body, and it affects every single other believer!

B. “Body of Christ” graphic

I have attempted to create a graphic to help us understand better the significance of the Scripture passages and accompanying comments that I have presented above. Please note that ultimately the truths that I have attempted to portray are beyond human comprehension, which should alert us to keep in mind that the graphic is limited, probably in many ways.

Profiting from the graphic will demand that we seriously contemplate what I have attempted to visualize about the body of Christ. Very likely, there is a better way to portray these truths.

In Discipleship, Health

Chafer on the Return of Christ

April 3, 2011

Lewis Sperry Chafer highlights the doctrinal importance of the Return of Christ by writing,

The general theme concerning the return of Christ has the unique distinction of being the first prophecy uttered by man (Jude 1:14, 15) and the last message from the ascended Christ as well as being the last word of the Bible (Rev. 22:20, 21).

Likewise, the theme of the Second Coming of Christ is unique because of the fact that it occupies a larger part of the text of the Scriptures than any other doctrine, and it is the outstanding theme of prophecy in both the Old and the New Testaments. In fact all other prophecy largely contributes to the one great end of the complete setting forth of this crowning event—the Second Coming of Christ (Major Bible Themes, 62-63).

In view of these facts, it seems plain that we will not evangelize or disciple people properly apart from a Spirit-filled focus on the Return of Christ.

In Discipleship, Evangelism, Quotes

Hiebert on Apostolic Proclamation of the Return of Christ

April 2, 2011

Paul writes that the Thessalonians “turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God; and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus which delivered us from the wrath to come” (1 Thess. 1:9-10). Commenting on 1:10, D. Edmond Hiebert stresses the importance of apostolic evangelistic proclamation of the return of Christ:

This anticipation of Christ’s return characterized the Christian church from its very beginning. Acts makes it clear that it was an essential part of the preaching of the gospel. That Paul laid considerable emphasis upon this hope in his preaching at Thessalonica seems clear from the perverted charge against the Christians in Acts 17:7 when read in light of the Thessalonian epistles. This eschatological hope is the keynote of these epistles. It had taken a firm hold on the Thessalonian believers. If their serving a living and true God distinguished them from the Gentiles, this expectant hope for Christ’s return distinguished them from the Jews.
Much of modern Christendom has lost this expectant waiting for the return of Christ, much to its own impoverishment. This expectancy is an essential part of a mature Christian life. . . . That the return of the risen Christ was being awaited by the Thessalonians implies the teaching concerning His ascension and present enthronement at the right hand of the Father . . . An eschatological reference precedes and follows [the] mention of Christ’s resurrection. Paul thus firmly ties the hope of the second advent to the crowning event of the first advent. . . . Jesus Christ’s resurrection . . . was an event that stands alone in history and confirms the validity of the gospel of salvation through Him. . . . The resurrection of Christ is therefore the ground and guarantee of His return. . . . This concise reference to the ‘wrath’ implies that the readers would understand its significance and indicates that the preaching of divine wrath coming upon sin and idolatry was an essential part of the apostolic preaching (1 & 2 Thessalonians, 73-75).

Our preaching of the gospel should also emphasize the return of Christ in connection with the resurrection and the wrath of God. Acts 17:30-31 is the best Pauline passage to teach us how to do so. Whenever possible, I use these statements when I evangelize people, and I believe that doing so is a vital part of biblical evangelism.

In Discipleship, Evangelism, Gospel, Quotes

New Hymnal from Majesty Music

April 1, 2011

“Rejoice Hymns,” the new hymnal from Majesty Music is now available! The preface highlights “special features” of “this collection of psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs” that “has been developed to meet the church need for enthusiastic, vibrant congregational singing”:

bracketed or written-out introductions to all songs

a wide variety of new and old songs suitable for worship, revival, prayer meetings, weddings, communion, baptism, dedications, invitations, Sunday school, children’s church, and so forth

segues of two to three songs to create flowing worship

last stanza settings complete with diverse harmonizations and modulations for exceptional worship experiences

occasional descants and choral endings

scriptural basis for each song

large musical and textual type for easy reading

A sampler that includes the First Lines and Title Index for all 708 pieces in the hymnal is available as a downloadable pdf document.

In Music

The Consummation of Public Worship

March 31, 2011

In any of its various forms, the word worship occurs only six times in the Pauline Epistles (Rom. 1:25; 1 Cor. 14:25; Phil. 3:3; Col. 2:18, 23; 2 Thess. 2:4). Of these, only one passage (1 Cor. 14:25) specifically speaks of worship in a church setting. This reference is especially striking because we would have expected that if Paul had used the word only once in First Corinthians, it surely would have been in his teaching about the Lord’s Supper (1 Cor. 11:17-34). Instead, he used it in the only explicit information given in Scripture about worship in an actual church service.

An examination of this passage (1 Cor. 14:23-25) brings out truth of great value for all churches. Paul begins by speaking of the whole church’s having come together into one place (14:23a). He argues with a rhetorical question that demands an affirmative answer that if all the believers were to speak with tongues, the resulting effect on unlearned or unbelieving people present in the service would be undesirable and unedifying (14:23b-c). Saying this, he makes clear that a proper church service is not one that is focused on speaking with tongues.

He then contrasts what would happen in that case with what would happen if all the believers were to prophesy (14:24). In that situation, he describes the very beneficial effects such activity in the church would have on unbelievers and unlearned people (14:24-25). Paul’s fivefold explanation of the effect on them provides crucial understanding about public worship.

First, he says that an unbelieving or unlearned person would be “convinced by all” (14:24c). Because of the congregation’s ministry, the person would be brought into conviction of sin.

Second, he would be “judged of all” (14:24d). The believers’ prophesying would bring conviction of judgment upon the person. Saying this, Paul made known that a church service is supposed to be a setting in which people become convicted of sin and judgment.

Third, his secrets would thus be made manifest (14:25a). Here Paul reveals that through the prophesying, God would make manifest to the sinner the secrets of his heart. In some unexplained manner, God would supernaturally confront the sinner with conviction of judgment to come upon him for his secret sins.

Fourth, he would therefore fall down on his face and worship God (14:25b). Recognizing that only God could have brought about such exposure of his secrets and convinced him that he deserves judgment for them, the person would publicly abase himself and worship God. Paul thus made known that the consummation of public worship includes sinful unbelievers’ and unlearned people’s publicly manifesting that God has convicted them of judgment and brought them to the place where they openly worship Him in acknowledgement of His supernatural working through the congregation.

Finally, he would report that God truly was in that body of believers (14:25c). Paul notes that the person thus brought to worship God openly would confess in some unexplained manner to the congregation that God was truly present among them.

Putting all these ideas together, we see that public worship is consummated fully when those whom God convicts of judgment for their secret sins openly acknowledge Him as God by publicly abasing themselves in some appropriate manner and then testifying of God’s working in their heart to that congregation. This passage therefore provides biblical justification for the use of some appropriate manner of public invitation in church services.

Moreover, Paul’s contrasting statements about the effects of the speaking with tongues versus prophesying strikingly show that speaking with tongues by all will not result in the desired worship of God by unbelieving and unlearned people. For them to be brought to worship God, they will have to hear prophesying by the congregation.

Furthermore, this passage teaches that unbelievers and unlearned people will only worship God aright in a service when they have been convicted of judgment to come for their secret sins. This teaching thus stresses that God desires to bring about that outcome in them through the believers’ prophesying to them. Those who minister publicly should consider these truths as they plan what the content of their prophesying will be.

Believers in all churches should be taught these important truths about the consummation of public worship. The Father desires that people worship Him in spirit and in truth (John 4:23) according to the teaching of this important passage.

In Discipleship, Interpretation

The Message of the Heavens

March 30, 2011

Most believers are very familiar with David’s teaching about the message of the heavens: “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handywork” (Ps. 19:1). Not nearly as many likely have noticed that there are two more statements in Scripture that also speak about the message of the heavens:

“And the heavens shall declare [the Hebrew here may be rendered as “declare” instead of “shall declare”] his righteousness: for God is judge himself” (Ps. 50:6).

“The heavens declare his righteousness, and all the people see his glory” (Ps. 97:6).

Significantly, these two statements both contain the key word, “righteousness.” Both the Hebrew text and the Greek translation of these verses have key Bible words for that term (tsedeq; δικαιοσύνη). Furthermore, the latter statement parallels God’s righteousness with His glory, signifying that the glory of God that the heavens declare is His righteousness. Putting the teaching of the verses together suggests that the heavens declare His righteousness because He is Himself the Judge, and the glory of God that the heavens declare is that He is the righteous Judge.

In an important NT statement about a message from heaven, Paul twice uses a related word, “unrighteousness”: “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness” (Rom. 1:18). Thus, both testaments have teaching that speaks of a message about God as judge in connection with a word for heaven and the concept of righteousness.

Pondering the connections among these four statements concerning the message of the heavens makes for an interesting study. I am not sure how to fit all the pieces together. I would welcome your thoughts on how these verses and the truths that they express might correlate with one another to teach us truth that we might otherwise overlook.

In Interpretation

God's Answer for Troubled Thoughts – Daniel 5

March 29, 2011

From Daniel 5, we learn that we must heed God’s answer for our troubled thoughts:

The Cause of Troubled Thoughts
The Answer for Troubled Thoughts
The Penalty for Not Dealing Properly with Troubled Thoughts

To learn more, listen to my message, “God’s Answer for Troubled Thoughts.”

In Discipleship, Evangelism

Is God My Judge?

March 28, 2011

From a study of Daniel (‘God is my Judge’), I compiled the points below that provide direction for you from the book to examine the extent to which you are understanding properly the truth that God is your Judge and living properly in light of that truth. For further help with this examination, hear the message that I preached on this subject, “God Is My Judge.”

Unwillingness to defile yourself with the king’s choice food or wine	1:8
Humility before God	1:9, 17, 20; 2:30
Unwillingness to bow down and worship any images and to serve pagan gods	3:12, 18
Knowing Whom alone to serve and worship	3:28
Not speaking against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego	3:29
Recognizing who is in charge	4:25
Acknowledging who has exalted you to whatever position you are in	4:25
Appealing to sinners to repent and making known the value of doing so	4:27
Breaking away now from your sins and your iniquities	4:27
Walking humbly before the King of heaven	4:37
Willingness to confront unrighteous authority if put in an appropriate setting	5:22
Obeying God rather than man when man’s laws conflict with God’s laws	6:10
Being innocent before God and committing no crimes toward civil authorities	6:22
Serving and obeying the Most High and the Son of Man	7:14, 27
Understanding prophecy and continuing to do your work	8:17, 27
Giving your attention to the Lord God to seek Him	9:3
Setting your heart on understanding and humbling yourself before your God	10:12
Not being afraid; taking courage and being courageous	10:19
Not acting wickedly toward God’s covenant	11:32
Displaying strength and taking action for the cause of God	11:32
Having insight and giving understanding to many	11:33
Showing regard for God by not magnifying yourself above Him	11:37
Having insight and leading many to righteousness	12:3
Keep waiting for and attaining to the kingdom of God	12:12

In Discipleship

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