BeachCast.TV: Bible Exploration, Apologetics and Church History with Dr. Chase A. Thompson:

Given that the word 'pastor,' is only mentioned once in most translations of the New Testament, could it be that the modern church is too focused on the gift and role of the pastor, asks the pastor host of this podcast. Also includes 5 foundational truths about spiritual gifts and a fascinating evangelism story from Saudi Arabia.

Our readings start with Exodus 9 which features a continuance of the struggle between Pharaoh and his magicians in the blue corner, weighing in at a combined weight of 550 pounds, and Moses and Aaron in the near corner, weighing in at around a hair under 300 pounds. Yes, it's a handicap match, but it is Pharaoh and his boys that are ultimately on the underpowered side. Job 27 sees Job continue his painful discourse and Luke 12 contains many powerful teachings of Jesus, including His cure for anxiety.

Today we begin a three part series on spiritual gifts. Because this podcast follows the Robert Murray M'Cheyne plan, which was designed during a non-leap year, we will have an extra day in February to work with. Thus for the next three days, we will focus on 1st Corinthians 12-14, and on the 29th, we will discuss 1 Corinthians 15 - the resurrection chapter of the Bible. The next time we go through 1st Corinthians, our focus will be much more on the love chapter - 1st Corinthians 13. But, as a nod to the extreme importance of 1 Corinthians 13, and as a foretaste of our future discussion on the passage, I'd like to turn to our friend Pastor Charles Spurgeon to help us frame our discussion of spiritual gifts in their proper context:

Two things are in the text [of 1st Corinthians 12-13]. There is, first, a good way. And, second, there is "an even better way." First, the good way is for each individual Christian to "desire the greater gifts." Paul was referring to spiritual gifts—gifts we ask God for, gifts we may expect the Spirit of God to bestow on us, gifts that can be used in the church of Christ, gifts we desire to possess that we may use them to the glory of God.

A certain way may be good, but another way may be even better. Gifts are good, but love is better. We should desire spiritual gifts, but above all we should seek love—the best love, the noblest love, the greatest love—that is, love to God, love to fellow believers, and love to the church of God. This is "an even better way." We should seek this love, first, because we need it. I do not know if we need all the gifts, but I am sure we need this love. Next, we should seek this love because we can have it. There is no limit to God's love. Perhaps even though we covet earnestly the greater gifts, there may be some gifts we will never receive. But all can have love. We need to get more love, also, because we will then be more useful. I am not sure any of us would be more useful if we had more gifts. Not every gift makes a person useful, but I am sure divine love makes us useful. A gift is often barren, but love is always fruitful. We need to get more love so we will glorify God. How little glory God often gets out of great gifts! Gifts may be prostituted to the vilest purposes, but love always brings glory to God's holy name. Remember, also, that though we are to desire great gifts, we will lose them one day. But if we have this love, we will keep it, and it will keep us. This divine love gives us the foretaste and pledge of glory. The person who is full of the majestic grace of divine love truly is blessed.

Spurgeon, The Spurgeon Study Bible: Notes (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017), 1551.

The Bible never gives us a direct and inspired definition of what a spiritual gift is exactly, but there are enough teachings in the Bible on the topic that we can come up with a pretty good definition ourselves, based on what the Bible teaches. I'll list a few, and then give you mine:

[Spiritual gifts] are gifts of grace granted by the Holy Spirit which are designed for the edification of the church.

Thomas Schreiner from his book: Spiritual Gifts, What They are and why They Matter.

A spiritual gift is a God-given ability, distributed to individual Christians by the Holy Spirit that allows him/or her to work through their lives to help the church execute its mission on earth.

Dr. Roger Barrier https://www.crosswalk.com/faith/spiritual-life/how-to-identify-and-effectively-use-your-spiritual-gifts.html

A spiritual gift is an expression of the Holy Spirit in the life of believers which empowers them to serve the body of Christ, the church.

Lifeway's Gene Wilks: https://www.marinerschurch.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/DOC-Spiritual-Gifts-List-LW.pdf

"[Spiritual] gifts are abilities God gives us to meet the needs of others in Christ's name."

Pastor Tim Keller

Spiritual gifts [are] the abilities given by the Spirit which express our faith and aim to strengthen the faith of others; they are abilities by which we receive the grace of God and disburse that grace to others.

Pastor John Piper: https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/spiritual-gifts

I completely agree with all five definitions above - they are all solid, and each one captures a slightly different nuance of the Bible's teaching on gifts of the Spirit. Note how the focus is on who the giver is - the Holy Spirit - and the focus is on what the purpose of the gifts are - the building up of the followers of Jesus. Almost every definition above makes mention of those two dynamics, because Paul's teaching on spiritual gifts makes those two points crystal clear. Here's my own personal definition: "Spiritual Gifts are various supernatural empowerments of grace given to Christians by the Holy Spirit to be used for building up others and pointing them to Jesus." The main things I add to my definition is that spiritual gifts are SUPERNATURAL - they are not natural talents, but rather supernatural abilities. This doesn't mean that Christians have super-powers, of course, but that the power-source for these abilities is not human, but of the Spirit, thus making it supernatural. I also suggest that spiritual gifts should point people to Jesus and build them up because it seems to me that this is what Paul is driving at in Ephesians 4:

11 And he himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, 12 equipping the saints for the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ, 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of God's Son, growing into maturity with a stature measured by Christ's fullness. 14 Then we will no longer be little children, tossed by the waves and blown around by every wind of teaching, by human cunning with cleverness in the techniques of deceit. 15 But speaking the truth in love, let us grow in every way into him who is the head—Christ. 16 From him the whole body, fitted and knit together by every supporting ligament, promotes the growth of the body for building up itself in love by the proper working of each individual part.

Ephesians 4:11-16

The Spiritual gifts therefore work to build us up/edify us and also work to point us upwards towards (and into) maturity in Christ. I'll close our discussion on these gifts today with:

Three Foundational Truths About Spiritual Gifts:

1.Everybody in the Body of Christ has a spiritual gift. Every saved believer in Jesus has been empowered with at least one special, supernatural ability to serve others and glorify God.

2. These gifts are distributed by the Holy Spirit as He wills. Paul makes it very clear in 1st Corinthians 12, below, that these abilities from God are directly given to believers by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the giver of spiritual gifts AND is "active in them," indicating that He is not only the initial gift-giver, but also the gift-activator, and the gift-sustainer.

3. These gifts are given for the benefit of others. According to Paul, who repeats this truth multiple times in 1 Corinthians 12 and 14, spiritual gifts are not primarily given for self-edification, but for the building-up of others in the Body of Christ/church. This is why Paul challenges the Corinthians, who were zealous for the operation of spiritual gifts, "So also you—since you are zealous for spiritual gifts, seek to excel in building up the church." 1 Cor. 14:12 Note that Paul did NOT chastise the Corinthians for being interested in spiritual gifts – not even the controversial gifts like healing, miracles, prophecy and tongues. In fact, Paul says things like this, "I thank God that I speak in other languages more than all of you." 1 Cor. 14:18, and, "Pursue love and desire spiritual gifts, and above all that you may prophesy." 1 Cor. 14:1 Though Paul orders the Corinthians to have orderly parameters on the operation of spiritual gifts, he never disparages ANY of the gifts, and he implores the Corinthians multiple times to desire the operation of spiritual gifts among them, especially the gift of prophecy. It is NOT immature to be interested in spiritual gifts – it is actually commanded that we be desirous of these graces in our midst.

Primary Scriptural Foundation for Truths #1-3: 1 Corinthians 12:7-11: "7 A demonstration of the Spirit is given to each person to produce what is beneficial: 8 to one is given a message of wisdom through the Spirit, to another, a message of knowledge by the same Spirit, 9 to another, faith by the same Spirit, to another, gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10 to another, the performing of miracles, to another, prophecy, to another, distinguishing between spirits, to another, different kinds of languages,to another, interpretation of languages. 11 But one and the same Spirit is active in all these, distributing to each person as He wills."

This is the amazing story of God's grace. God saves us by His grace and transforms us more and more into the likeness of His Son by His grace. In all our trials and afflictions, He sustains and strengthens us by His grace. He calls us by grace to perform our own unique function within the Body of Christ. Then, again by grace, He gives to each of us the spiritual gifts necessary to fulfill our calling. As we serve Him, He makes that service acceptable to Himself by grace, and then rewards us a hundredfold by grace.

Transforming Grace by Jerry Bridges

What, exactly, are spiritual gifts? Are they supernatural? Superhuman? Why did God give His follower spiritual gifts - what is their purpose, and what can we learn about them? Also featuring Charles Spurgeon on why spiritual gifts are important, but love is even more important.

Our passages today are Job 25 and 26, and for once, one of Job's friends actually makes some sense, or at least just doesn't spew out garbage, so that is an improvement. (Keeping in mind that God Himself rebukes Job's friends at the end of the book of Job.) Luke 11 has two powerful teachings on prayer: The Model Prayer/Lord's Prayer and Jesus' exhortation to ask and keep on asking, knock and keep on knocking and seek and keep on seeking. (That is the actual verb tense that is in the Greek of Luke 11 - indicating a continuous and ongoing action of persevering asking, seeking and knocking.) 1 Corinthians 12 Begins the longest extended teaching in the Bible on Spiritual Gifts, and will be the focus of our next two episodes, but today we are in Exodus 8. God has sent Moses and Aaron to tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites free, and has given them some miraculous signs to show Pharaoh that God is powerful and means business. We saw this yesterday in Exodus 7:

10 So Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh and did just as the Lord had commanded. Aaron threw down his staff before Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a serpent. 11 But then Pharaoh called the wise men and sorcerers—the magicians of Egypt, and they also did the same thing by their occult practices. 12 Each one threw down his staff, and it became a serpent. But Aaron's staff swallowed their staffs. 13 However, Pharaoh's heart was hard, and he did not listen to them, as the Lord had said.

20 Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord had commanded; in the sight of Pharaoh and his officials, he raised the staff and struck the water in the Nile, and all the water in the Nile was turned to blood. 21 The fish in the Nile died, and the river smelled so bad the Egyptians could not drink water from it. There was blood throughout the land of Egypt. 22 But the magicians of Egypt did the same thing by their occult practices.

Exodus 7

A very similar dynamic will happen today in chapter 8 - so let's read it and come back and discuss what is going on.

5 The Lord then said to Moses, "Tell Aaron: Stretch out your hand with your staff over the rivers, canals, and ponds, and cause the frogs to come up onto the land of Egypt." 6 When Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, the frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt. 7 But the magicians did the same thing by their occult practices and brought frogs up onto the land of Egypt.

Exodus 8:5-7

I believe the Bible is absolutely inspired and inerrant - all that it affirms is true and factual. This account quite clearly shows that the magicians of Egypt were able to do some incredible things: Turn their staffs into snakes, turn water into blood and produce a plague of frogs. How is this possible? We have two major possibilities: #1 The Egyptian magicians pulled some sort of trickery and sleight of hand - akin to a modern Criss Angel/David Copperfield type. #2 The Egyptian magicians tapped into a different power source other than God. Gotquestions.org tends to favor the first option:

The second option, and the more probable, is that the magicians simply created illusions. Through sleight-of-hand and conjurer's tricks, they deceived their audience into believing that they were performing the same miracles as Moses and Aaron. The first illusion, that of turning the staffs into snakes, may have been performed by snake charming, which was widely practiced in ancient Egypt (and even some today). There was a way in which snake charmers could cause a snake to stiffen like a staff and relax on command. Since the magicians were summoned after Aaron threw down his own staff, they would have had time to prepare the trick in advance. As for turning the Nile to blood, only dye is needed to make water run red. The frogs may be a more complicated illusion, but, just as modern illusionists can pull rabbits out of hats, Pharaoh's magicians could have summoned frogs.

https://www.gotquestions.org/Pharaohs-magicians-miracles.html

I will definitely admit that this is a possibility, but as near as I can tell, the text of each of these passages does not seem to lend itself to trickery. Each time, the Word of God says that the Egyptian magicians "did the same thing by their occult practices/enchantments." I heavily favor option #2 as the most compatible with the biblical text. Somehow, someway, spiritual beings/demons/elohims/Satan himself empowered these magicians. Is such a thing possible? I believe the Bible indicates the answer is yes - Satan does have power, and he can empower people, from time to time. Consider these passages:

The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie,

The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders,

2 Thessalonians 2:9 NIV, then KJV

I do note here that some versions use the phrase 'false' signs and wonders, and that is within the range of meaning of the Greek word. I prefer the NIV and KJV translations here, because lying wonders seems to more properly fit the context - since it is saying that Satan will come with POWER. If he is coming with power - then his signs and wonders will likely be real - not the kind of trickery a cruise ship magician does. Jesus makes this even more explicit and clear in Matthew 24:

"If anyone tells you then, 'See, here is the Messiah!' or, 'Over here!' do not believe it. 24 For false messiahs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.

Matthew 24:23-24

Beyond question, Jesus is teaching here that there will be last days false prophets and false messiahs that will perform 'GREAT' signs and wonders in front of the people. The prophets are false. The messiahs are false. Their signs and wonders are great, and very real indeed. Likewise, Deuteronomy 13 demonstrates that false prophets can produce accurate predictions, signs and wonders:

"If a prophet or someone who has dreams arises among you and proclaims a sign or wonder to you, 2 and that sign or wonder he has promised you comes about, but he says, 'Let us follow other gods,' which you have not known, 'and let us worship them,' 3 do not listen to that prophet's words or to that dreamer.

Deuteronomy 13:1-3

The case of Simon Magus, the magician in Acts 8, is quite inconclusive, but the case of the Gerasene demoniac and the demon-possessed man that beat naked the seven sons of Sceva is not. Both of those individuals had supernatural strength that was provided to them by the demons that were demonizing them. Perhaps most spectacularly (and terrifyingly) of all, is the Beast of Revelation 13:

Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth; it had two horns like a lamb, but it spoke like a dragon. 12 It exercises all the authority of the first beast on its behalf and compels the earth and those who live on it to worship the first beast, whose fatal wound was healed. 13 It also performs great signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to earth in front of people. 14 It deceives those who live on the earth because of the signs that it is permitted to perform in the presence of the beast, telling those who live on the earth to make an image of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived. 15 It was permitted to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast could both speak and cause whoever would not worship the image of the beast to be killed.

Revelation 13:11-15

Finally, we arrive at the demonic spirits of Revelation 16, who have the power to do signs:

14 For they are demonic spirits performing signs, who travel to the kings of the whole world to assemble them for the battle on the great day of God, the Almighty.

Revelation 16:14

Beyond a shadow of a doubt, the Bible teaches that Satan and demons have a high level of power and authority. This power and authority pales in comparison to Yahweh God's power and authority, but it far outshines the power of any human. I believe that the Egyptian magicians were somehow tapping into this power in a way that, no doubt, impressed Pharaoh, but their power would ultimately be shown as completely impotent in the face of God's increasing plagues against Egypt, and they knew it quickly:

16 Then the Lord said to Moses, "Tell Aaron: Stretch out your staff and strike the dust of the land, and it will become gnats throughout the land of Egypt." 17 And they did this. Aaron stretched out his hand with his staff, and when he struck the dust of the land, gnats were on people and animals. All the dust of the land became gnats throughout the land of Egypt. 18 The magicians tried to produce gnats using their occult practices, but they could not. The gnats remained on people and animals.19 "This is the finger of God," the magicians said to Pharaoh. But Pharaoh's heart was hard, and he would not listen to them, as the Lord had said.

Exodus 8:16-19

Interestingly, though the magicians of Egypt are not named here, it is very possible that Paul names them in the New Testament.

6 For among them are those who worm their way into households and deceive gullible women overwhelmed by sins and led astray by a variety of passions, 7 always learning and never able to come to a knowledge of the truth. 8 Just as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so these also resist the truth. They are men who are corrupt in mind and worthless in regard to the faith. 9 But they will not make further progress, for their foolishness will be clear to all, as was the foolishness of Jannes and Jambres.

2 Timothy 3:6-9

Origen of Alexandria (180s A.D.-230s A.D.) wrote that Paul got the name of Jannes and Jambres (Neither of which appears in the Old Testament) from an extra-biblical book which named the magicians in the Exodus narrative. Apparently in this book the impotence of the Egyptian magicians is highlighted even more than in the Biblical account. I appreciate the conclusion from Gotquestions.org's article on this matter, so we will close this part of the pod with it:

Whether they were creating illusions or performing actual miracles, the Egyptian magicians were eventually stymied by God's power. They were unable to summon gnats (Exodus 8:16–19), turn the sky dark (Exodus 10:21–23), call down hailstones (Exodus 9:22–26), or duplicate any of the other plagues. God's power is great enough to defeat both man's conniving and Satan's power with ease.

https://www.gotquestions.org/Pharaohs-magicians-miracles.html

In Exodus 7 and 8, God does some remarkable miracles through Moses and Aaron. Moses' staff turns into a snake. The Nile River turns to blood, and Aaron stretches out his hand and causes a plague of frogs to overcome the Egyptians. The strange thing is that Pharaoh's magicians are able to do all three of these wonders...how can that be possible? Was it a magic trick, or the dark arts working through them?

Happy Monday, friends. May the Lord bless you and carry you through this sometimes grim day. Today's Bible readings include Exodus 7, wherein Pharaoh's magicians perform some amazing feats, a topic that we will tackle in episode #56 tomorrow. Job 24 continues Job's epic speech? Rant? Lament? I'm not sure how to classify his third speech. It's something, though - wow! In Luke 10 Jesus sends out not 12, but 72 disciples and also tells us the amazing Parable of the Good Samaritan, one of the most well-known stories in all of human history. Our focus question comes from 1 Corinthians 11. This is an interesting and fairly controversial chapter. The first part concerns head coverings, and the second contains instructions, exhortations and warnings about The Lord's Supper/Communion/Eucharist/Breaking of the Bread. (These four phrases all refer to the same ordinance in the Christian church. Eucharist comes from the Greek word for 'Thanksgiving' and it is found in 1 Corinthians 11:34) We will probably cover head coverings later this year when we go through 1st Corinthians again, but today we are going to zero in on Paul's mysterious and terrifying warning about the dangers of taking Communion in an unworthy manner. Let's read the text and pay special attention to the warning, then we will come back and discuss it.

Just in case you missed it, here is the text that we are discussing today:

27 So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sin against the body and blood of the Lord. 28 Let a person examine himself; in this way let him eat the bread and drink from the cup. 29 For whoever eats and drinks without recognizing the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself. 30 This is why many are sick and ill among you, and many have fallen asleep. 31 If we were properly judging ourselves, we would not be judged, 32 but when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined, so that we may not be condemned with the world.

1 Corinthians 11:27-32

When you understand that 'fallen asleep' is a biblical metaphor used to indicate death, then you understand how serious Paul is being here. He is saying that some in the Corinthian church have become weak, sick and some have even died because of the way they handled the communion. Pause and let that sink in for just a moment. The New Testament is telling us here that, if we partake of communion in an improper way on Sunday morning, then we are running the risk of weakness, sickness or death. When I first read that in the Bible many years ago, I was quite shocked - especially so because I don't recall having ever been warned about such a thing in the churches I grew up in. It might surprise you to hear that communion is such a serious matter, but we should know that it was at the very center of Christian practice in the first few centuries of the church. I believe the modern church takes the practice of communion far too lightly, and probably far too infrequently. It was a dispute over the meaning of communion in England in the 1500s that caused Bloody Mary, the Catholic Queen of England, to order the deaths of almost 300 Protestants who had a different view of communion than did the Catholics. This number included 55 women, 4 children and more than two dozen church leaders and pastors. What was the exact nature of the dispute? Here's British Bishop J.C. Ryle on the answer to that question:

The doctrine in question was the real presence of the body and blood of Christ in the consecrated elements of bread and wine in the Lord's Supper. Did they, or did they not believe that the body and blood of Christ were really, that is corporally, literally, locally, and materially, present under the forms of bread and wine after the words of consecration were pronounced? Did they or did they not believe that the real body of Christ, which was born of the Virgin Mary, was present on the so-called altar so soon as the mystical words had passed the lips of the priest? Did they or did they not? That was the simple question. If they did not believe and admit it, they were burned.

John Charles Ryle, Light from Old Times (Moscow, Idaho: Charles Nolan Publishers, 2000, first published 1890)

Thankfully, Catholics don't kill Protestants over communion disagreements anymore, but the above struggle does demonstrate that communion is not merely a quarterly snack of crackers and juice that the church sometimes does. Rather, it is a life-giving, Gospel-proclaiming, faith-building, thankful heart-producing, Christ-focusing act that causes us to remember and proclaim that central truth of Christianity - that the body of Jesus was broken (instead of ours!) for sin; and the blood of Jesus was violently spilled out (instead of ours!) for our sin. When we eat and drink the bread and fruit of the vine, we proclaim the Lord's death and resurrection and return together.

How can such an act be dangerous? I believe the answer to that question lies in the very importance of the act itself. Though some churches treat it as such, communion is no light matter, or peripheral issue. Listen again to Paul's instructions on the matter:

17 Now in giving this instruction I do not praise you, since you come together not for the better but for the worse. 18 For to begin with, I hear that when you come together as a church there are divisions among you, and in part I believe it. 19 Indeed, it is necessary that there be factions among you, so that those who are approved may be recognized among you. 20 When you come together, then, it is not to eat the Lord's Supper. 21 For at the meal, each one eats his own supper. So one person is hungry while another gets drunk! 22 Don't you have homes in which to eat and drink? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What should I say to you? Should I praise you? I do not praise you in this matter!

1 Corinthians 11:17-22

It would appear that the central trouble to communion in the Corinthian church was related to disunity. Something was causing disunity - a lack of unity so profound that Paul is suggesting that they would be better off to not even have church on Sunday! (vs. 17, reminiscent of Malachi 1:10, "How I wish that one of you would shut the Temple doors, so that you would not light useless fires on my altar! I am not pleased with you," says the LORD Almighty, "and I will accept no offering from your hands.") What was the exact nature of this disunity? Apparently people were selfishly seeking to eat and drink (so the early church communion was more than simply a tiny cracker, and a thimbleful of juice!) and not allowing the whole church to eat and drink! Some were overeating, and some were getting drunk, while others were going hungry and thirsty. Verses 33-34 confirm that this dynamic is going on:

33 Therefore, my brothers and sisters, when you come together to eat, welcome one another. 34 If anyone is hungry, he should eat at home, so that when you gather together you will not come under judgment.

1 Corinthians 11:33-34

Thus the purpose of communion was not necessarily to eat a full meal and receive nutritional sustenance, it was more of an act of worship and remembrance - but some people were taking the opportunity to 'pig-out' and, in doing so, were being unwelcoming, rude, inhospitable and downright selfish.

Modern Christians have a funny view of sin - funny in that it is not often very informed by biblical truth, but more by societal dictates and our own logic. We rightly realize the soul-endangering nature of sexual sin, but consider greed and verbal abuse to be somewhat lesser sins, and yet 1 Corinthians 6 notes that all of those sins are soul-endangering and disqualifying from the Kingdom of Heaven. What about complaining? We almost laugh it off, but God sent a deadly judgment of fire against complaining Israelites in Numbers 11. Likewise, the kind of pride and selfishness that characterized some of the Corinthians' practice of eating and drinking all of the food before others could eat seems fairly innocuous to us, but it was deadly serious (literally!) to the Lord. There is no place in the Body of Christ for a 'me-first' kind of selfishness. And that gets us to the antidote and proper approach for communion, which was, according to Paul:

27 So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sin against the body and blood of the Lord. 28 Let a person examine himself; in this way let him eat the bread and drink from the cup. 29 For whoever eats and drinks without recognizing the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself.

1 Corinthians 11:27-29

Before communion happens, we must examine ourselves and reflect on the rest of the church, considering our place in the Body of Christ. As members/body parts - we are no more or less important than anybody else. We must honor them above ourselves, and we must put their needs ahead of our own. They must do the same for us, and when we are doing that in union - we become the beautiful, radiant, sweet-smelling Body of Christ - lovingly caring for each other in a kind of unity that proclaims the gospel of Jesus to a lost and dying world. (see John 17)

Allow me to close with a wonderful meditation from Pastor John Piper on this passage. We, as humans, consider a punishment of death or even sickness to be incredibly harsh. This is primarily because our understanding only covers the 70-80 years of our lives. Our Heavenly Father does not view time in this narrow lens. If we are saved by Jesus and adopted as His brother and a Son of God, then we are eternal beings. Our mortal life on earth is but a finger-snap. If, in death or sickness, God can spare us from worse things (yes, there are many things worse than death for created beings who are saved to live in eternal bliss with God the Father!) then it is gracious of Him to do so. In this we can see that even discipline is love. Consider well Pastor Piper's words:

Sometimes death is a disciplinary deliverance to save us from condemnation. "A number [have died]…so that [they] will not be condemned along with the world."

This is not the reason for every death of God's precious saints. Don't jump to the conclusion that your sickness or your death is owing to a trajectory of sinning that God must rescue you from. But suppose that this is indeed what happens?

Is that encouraging? Will thinking about this help you die more peacefully and with greater faith and hope? My answer is that everything in the Bible is meant to help you die and to be encouraging for your faith in the light of truth (Romans 15:4).

How then would this truth strengthen us for a hope-filled death? It would happen like this: is not a great threat to our peace the thought that we are sinners? Does not the thought that God is sovereign and could lift this sickness threaten us with fearful feelings that he must be against us? And how shall we handle these fears when we know that we are indeed sinners and have corruption remaining in us? In those moments, we look for some encouragement from the Bible that God is willing to save believers who have sinned and are very imperfect.Yet we know that God is holy and hates sin, even sin committed by his children. We also know that God disciplines his children with sorrowful experiences (Hebrews 12:11). We are not among those who say God has nothing to do with the painful experiences of life. So we look for help and hope from God's utterly realistic Word. And we find it in 1 Corinthians 11:32, that even the death of saints—even the death of saints which is "discipline" and "judgment"—is not condemnation, but salvation. God is taking this sinning saint because he loves him so much he will not let him go on in sin.

This is our solid encouragement. What it says to all of us is this: we do not need to be certain whether the time of our death is owing to our sinning, or to the devil's cruelty (Revelation 2:10), or to God's other wise purposes. What we need is the deep assurance that even if my dying is owing to my own folly and sin, I can rest peacefully in the love of God. At such a moment, these words will be precious beyond measure: "We are disciplined by the Lord so that we will not be condemned."

Learning to die with you all,

Pastor John

https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/what-if-our-dying-is-discipline

1 Corinthians 11 includes the interesting reality from Paul that some in the Corinthians church had become weak, sick and even died from the selfish way that they were taking communion/The Lord's Supper. Is communion dangerous? What does the Bible have to say about how Christians should approach communion?

Happy Lord's Day, everybody! Today's pod will be short, and hopefully sweet as we discuss the powerful truth that Jesus is our advocate. We will be reading Exodus 6, Job 23, Luke 9 and 1 Corinthians 10 today. I'd like to give a shoutout to Lamar, who gave a remarkably encouraging review on iTunes:

Neither bland nor monotonous☆☆☆☆☆Three things going on here: first it's a Bible reading podcast just as titled, the readings are pleasant and joined with interesting and often very practical discussion. If you're looking for a reading plan, Chase follows one that will take you thru the Bible in a year also repeating important books. If you're like me and have repeatedly fallen off yearly reading plans but still feel compelled to read, pick a chapter out of the day's reading plan (notably the focus passage from the notes) and read it before listening and then you're cracking a book as well as getting your volume of Scripture input daily. Primarily, this is a daily reading podcast. You typically don't have to backtrack to benefit as there are few discussions that continue day-to-day and most critical scripture passages will get repeated tho I suspect the discussion will remain fresh. Chase attempts and pleasantly achieves a dramatic and fun reading of scripture and models a good way to read scripture to your children and yet does not offend this listener's sense of maturity. There is good topical discussion surrounding daily focus passages that is approached with solid biblical theology but is not a theology podcast that wanders into the weeds. It's a good listen to go along with a great read. LaMaR925 via Apple Podcasts ·United States of America ·02/19/2020

Thank you, Lamar! Today's focus question comes from our Job passage, specifically verses 1-7 where Job wishes that he could face God in a courtroom, and expresses the hope that he might be found innocent, if only a fully righteous advocate/lawyer could be found to plead with God on Job's behalf. As a reminder, an advocate is a person who speaks or writes in support or defense of a person.

Then an upright man could reason with him, and I would escape from my Judge forever.

Job 23:7

This echos Job's earlier cry for a lawyer/advocate who might intercede with God on Job's behalf from Job 16:

Earth, do not cover my blood; may my cry for help find no resting place. 19 Even now my witness is in heaven, and my advocate is in the heights! 20 My friends scoff at me as I weep before God. 21 I wish that someone might argue for a man with God just as anyone would for a friend.

Job 16:19-21

Job realizes that having some sort of upright/righteous/holy lawyer that had access to Heaven would be an incredible help to him - perhaps such an advocate could speak to God on Job's behalf and intercede for him. The wonderful news for us in the New Covenant era is that Jesus has become the very advocate that Job wished for - even far beyond his wildest dreams. Check out this beautiful truth from 1 John 2:

My little children, I am writing you these things so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ the righteous one. 2 He himself is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours, but also for those of the whole world.

1 John 2:1-2

Our great trouble is that our lives have missed God's mark of perfection - we have fallen short of His holiness in every way possible, and our sins have earned us judgment, and the penalty is death. This is terrifying because the Bible teaches us in multiple places that at the end of our lives and at the end of the world all humans will face judgment in God's courtroom. We already know our plea: guilty. The just Judge has all of the evidence needed to convict us and sentence us to death. However, the Judge is also merciful, and He has provided an advocate for us. That advocate is Jesus, and not only does Jesus 'represent' those who are His in the Father's courtroom, He is also the one who pays the penalty for their sin - IN FULL! - to the court's satisfaction. No wonder the Bible calls this the 'Good News!' I'll close this short reflection with some fantastic and encouraging words from our friend Charles Spurgeon about the joyful news of Jesus our Advocate:

"If any man sin, we have an advocate." Yes, though we sin, we have him still. John does not say, "If any man sin, he has forfeited his advocate," but "we have an advocate," sinners though we are. All the sin that a believer ever did, or can be allowed to commit, cannot destroy his interest in the Lord Jesus Christ, as his advocate. The name here given to our Lord is suggestive. "Jesus." (Jesus means Yahweh saves) Ah! then he is an advocate such as we need, for Jesus is the name of one whose business and delight it is to save. "They shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins." His sweetest name implies his success. Next, it is "Jesus Christ"—Christos, the anointed one. This shows his authority to plead. The Christ has a right to plead, for he is the Father's own appointed advocate and elected priest. If he were of our choosing he might fail, but if God has laid help upon one that is mighty, we may safely lay our trouble where God has laid his help. He is Christ, and therefore authorized; he is Christ, and therefore qualified, for the anointing has fully fitted him for his work. He can plead so as to move the heart of God and prevail.

What words of tenderness, what sentences of persuasion will the anointed use when he stands up to plead for me! One more letter of his name remains, "Jesus Christ the righteous." This is not only his character BUT his plea. It is his character, and if the Righteous One is my advocate, then my cause is good, or he would not have espoused it. It is his plea, for he meets the charge of unrighteousness against me by the plea that he is righteous. He declares himself my substitute and puts his obedience on to my account. My soul, you have a friend well fitted to be your advocate, he cannot help but succeed; leave yourself entirely in his hands.

C. H. Spurgeon, Morning and Evening: Daily Readings (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1896).

In a desperate place, Job wishes that he had a lawyer/advocate to talk to God on his behalf. The New Testament shows us that Jesus is our advocate - one who represents Christians in the courtroom of God and pays their penalty for sin.

Today's Bible readings feature some high drama as Moses and Pharaoh have their first showdown in Exodus 5. If we are being fair, I think we have to give Pharaoh the win for round 1, but this struggle will go on for several rounds, so stay tuned. Job 22 features some comforting and wise words from Job's awesome friends. Actually, no - that was sarcasm. Job's dumb friend Eliphaz actually asks Job this gem of a question:

Isn't your wickedness abundant and aren't your iniquities endless?

Job 22:5

What a horrible question to ask somebody who is going through terrible tragedy, heartbreak and depression. Once again, #DontBeLikeJobsFriends! Finally, in 1 Corinthians 9, Paul opens up and talks about his role as a minister of the Gospel and an apostle. Our focus passage for today is Luke 8, and our big Bible question comes right out of the first few verses, so let's read that chapter first, and then come back and discuss the women who took care of Jesus.

If you ask most church people the question, "who all traveled with Jesus?" I suspect the most common answer would be something that included Jesus and His 12 disciples, and pretty much nobody else. Interestingly, that doesn't appear to be the correct answer to the question, at least not all of the time, because we find this fascinating paragraph leading off Luke 8:

Afterward he was traveling from one town and village to another, preaching and telling the good news of the kingdom of God. The Twelve were with him, 2 and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and sicknesses: Mary, called Magdalene (seven demons had come out of her); 3 Joanna the wife of Chuza, Herod's steward; Susanna; and many others who were supporting them from their possessions.

Luke 8:1-3

By and large, the twelve disciples get all of the press (well, except for Jude/Thaddeus, Nathaniel, Simon the Zealot, the second James (James, son of Alpheus) and Philip the disciple) but Luke reveals to us something incredibly important: The practical and financial needs of Jesus and His twelve disciples were met by this large group of women that traveled with them. We don't know for sure that these women were always with Jesus, but they obviously were for the long village to village stretch described by Luke here, and it is probably not a stretch to believe that they accompanied Jesus and the disciples on many missions.

I have been a pastor for a very long time, and I can tell you that the people who voluntarily give of their resources to meet the physical and financial needs of ministry are hugely important in the life of every ministry and every church. No, the Kingdom of God is NOT built on money, but there are many needs that need to be met, and the way that God has ordained those needs be met is through the sacrificial giving of the people of God, and (at least according to Luke) the primary financial support of the Jesus team was this group of ladies. I know of no other passage that indicates other people funded the ministry of Jesus, though I'm sure some did. What this means is that women were crucial to the first century ministry of Jesus and they are crucial to the twentieth century ministry of Jesus. Theologically, I am what's known as a complementarian, which is a discussion we will be having in some upcoming passages of Scripture, but I will say this: any man or person who doesn't realize the massive contribution and importance of women in the Body of Christ is a dull and silly person. In honor of such, I'd like to briefly highlight five important, but lesser-known women in the New Testament. I think it is fair to say that most of them are unsung heroes of the Word of God. Fortunately for all of you, I have not written a song about any of them, so they will remain unsung, at least by me, but I do want to point them out and recognize their contributions to the Great Commission and the mission of Jesus:

1. Phoebe, Romans 16. Phoebe was a diakonos of the church in Cenchreae, and since that word can be translated as 'minister,' or 'servant,' or 'deacon,' there has been a long debate through the years over whether or not Phoebe was a deacon. We won't enter that debate today - one day - but she is obviously remarkably important to the Body of Christ. She is the first one that Paul 'shouts out' at the end of Romans, and he orders the Roman church to assist her and take care of her. Paul also points out that Phoebe has supported many in the ministry, Paul included. My wife and I named our fifth child Phoebe in honor of this Phoebe. To my knowledge, Phoebe is the youngest listener to this podcast, and the most faithful Thompson listener, so a shout out to you, young Phoebe - daddy loves you very much!

I commend to you our sister Phoebe, who is a servant of the church in Cenchreae. 2 So you should welcome her in the Lord in a manner worthy of the saints and assist her in whatever matter she may require your help. For indeed she has been a benefactor of many—and of me also.

Romans 16:1-3

2. Chloe - 1 Corinthians 11. Speaking of women in the Bible that we named our daughter's after, Chloe was a prominent figure in the early church, and also the name of our firstborn daughter. We don't know much about Chloe in the Bible, but it appears from the passage below that she was very concerned about the issue of unity in the early church and alerted Paul to it - probably in the hopes that he would be used to help restore unity.

10 Now I urge you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree in what you say, that there be no divisions among you, and that you be united with the same understanding and the same conviction. 11 For it has been reported to me about you, my brothers, by members of Chloe's household, that there is rivalry among you.

1 Corinthians 11:10-11

3. Nympha, Colossians 4. We also don't know much about Nympha, but she was obviously a Colosse home-owner, and she was prominent enough in the early church that a church-group actually met in her home!

5 Give my greetings to the brothers in Laodicea, and to Nympha and the church in her home.

Colossians 4:5

4. Anna the prophetess, Luke 2. I suppose if I asked a group of biblical scholars who was chronologically the first person named as a prophet/prophetess in the New Testament, most would not get the correct answer, which is Anna. (Yes, Zechariah prophesied before Anna, but the Bible does not identify him as a prophet.) The most remarkable thing about Anna was not that she was a prophetess, however, the most remarkable thing is that she SERVED GOD AT THE TEMPLE IN JERUSALEM FOR 84 YEARS WITHOUT LEAVING. That is utterly incredible - what a mighty woman of God!

There was also a prophetess, Anna, a daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was well along in years, having lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, 37 and was a widow for 84 years. She did not leave the temple complex, serving God night and day with fasting and prayers. 38 At that very moment, she came up and began to thank God and to speak about Him to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.

Luke 2:36-38

5. SO MANY MORE! How about Mary, mother of John Mark (probably a widow, the church met at her house to pray in Acts 16.) Lois and Eunice - Godly women who raised and discipled Timothy. Lydia - a wonderfully hospitable woman that was saved through the ministry of Paul, and immediately hosted his apostolic team in her house. Tryphena and Tryphosa - servants of the Gospel mentioned in Romans 16. Mary (a different Mary!) who worked very hard for the church at Rome (Romans 16:5). Damaris - one of the first converts to Christianity in Athens. Apphia - the only woman to have a book of the Bible co-written to her (the book of Philemon). Julia, Junia, Claudia and Nereus' sister - all saints mentioned by name by Paul in some of his letters. All of these women had crucial and important roles in the early church. Praise God for our dear sisters in the faith!

**I note here that this list doesn't include more notable women of the New Testament like Mary of Bethany, Mary the mother of Jesus, Priscilla, and others who are more well known.

Allow me to close with the massive role that multiple women played in the discovery and announcement of the resurrection of Jesus. It should be noted and proclaimed that they were the FIRST witnesses of His resurrection!

55 The women who had come with him from Galilee followed along and observed the tomb and how his body was placed. 56 Then they returned and prepared spices and perfumes.And they rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment. 24 On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came to the tomb, bringing the spices they had prepared. 2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb. 3 They went in but did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.

4 While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men stood by them in dazzling clothes. 5 So the women were terrified and bowed down to the ground. "Why are you looking for the living among the dead?" asked the men. 6 "He is not here, but he has risen!Remember how he spoke to you when he was still in Galilee, 7 saying, 'It is necessary that the Son of Man be betrayed into the hands of sinful men, be crucified, and rise on the third day'?" 8 And they remembered his words. 9 Returning from the tomb, they reported all these things to the Eleven and to all the rest. 10 Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them were telling the apostles these things. 11 But these words seemed like nonsense to them, and they did not believe the women. 12 Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. When he stooped to look in, he saw only the linen cloths. So he went away, amazed at what had happened.

Luke 23:55-Luke 24:12