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

Merry Christmas, everybody! Today's readings begin with Genesis 49, which largely consists of Jacob/Israel's blessing over his boys (and Joseph's two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh.) As we might expect from one such as Jacob/Israel, the blessing is very, very strange and unique in many ways, including where he calls out his eldest son for sleeping with his concubine/wife. #awkwardfamilymoments Job 15 features some more inaccurate drivel from Job's wrong (according to God) 'friend' Eliphaz, who fat-shames the wicked with this passage:

Though his face is covered with fat and his waistline bulges with it, 28 he will dwell in ruined cities, in abandoned houses destined to become piles of rubble. 29 He will no longer be rich; his wealth will not endure. His possessions will not increase in the land.

Job 15:27-29

Not cool, Eliphaz. In 1 Corinthians 3, Paul again addresses the issue of unity in the church, pointing out that picking certain people and following them (instead of Christ!) is a sure and dangerous sign of spiritual immaturity. Our focus passage for today is Luke, chapter 2: and so today we are celebrating Christmas in February. It's a tale as old as time, true as it can be. Everybody knows that Joseph and Mary, after a long and trying donkey ride, tried to stay at an Inn in Bethlehem and ended up staying in an animal stable because there was no room for them in the inn, right? Not so fast, my friend. It may just be that our understanding of the birth of Jesus might need a few tweaks. Let's read the Word and then come back and consider it.

Notice the CSB translation of Luke 2:7

Then she gave birth to her firstborn son, and she wrapped him tightly in cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.

Luke 2:7

What we have here is evidence that New Testament scholars have realized something important about the birth of Jesus - there may not have been an inn involved at all. Hol' up, I hear some of you saying: Are we implying that the Bible is wrong? Absolutely, positively not! Others are saying, the King James Version says "Inn," and that was good enough for Moses, and it was good enough for Paul, and it is good enough for me!

And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn

Luke 2:7 King James Version

Our issue here is an extremely minor one, but a terribly interesting one too. The only place in the Bible that discusses WHERE Jesus was born is in Luke 2, and there is VERY little information about where (and when!) He was born. Our question of the day revolves around the Greek word, " καταλύματι/katalumati" and what we have here is a translation issue. Does καταλύματι/katalumati mean 'Inn,' or does it mean something else? Generally speaking the best way to answer such a question in the Bible is to consider other uses of the Word in other Bible passages - especially those by the same author.

Where Bible scholars have trouble pinning down the exact concept or thing meant by a particular biblical author when he uses a particular word is when the word is rarely - or never - used in other Scripture. There is a phrase that describes a word in the Bible that is only used in one place, and it is 'hapax legomena' The New Testament has just under 700 hapax legomena, and the Old Testament has around 1500. This is about what you would expect in a body of works of that size, considering that Homer's Iliad has a little over 1000.

One of the most mysterious, and difficult to translate words in the entire Bible is found in Jesus' prayer in both Matthew 6:11 and Luke 11:3. "Give us this day our daily/ἐπιούσιος bread." Most modern scholars translate ἐπιούσιος as 'daily,' meaning that Jesus is teaching us to ask for daily provision. Many, if not most, ancient translators and early church fathers translated ἐπιούσιος as something along the lines of 'supernatural,' or 'super-substantial.' Because the word is used in the exact same context in both passages, neither use helps us understand what the Word means, and there is NO OTHER occurrence of the word in all of the rest of Greek literature. (Except for the Didache, which quotes the verse exactly from the Bible.)

Fortunately, our word καταλύματι/katalumati is NOT a hapax legomena, but it is only found in two other places in the New Testament. Happily, one of those places is later in the Gospel of Luke, so that gives us a really good idea how Luke himself uses the word.

"Listen," he said to them, "when you've entered the city, a man carrying a water jug will meet you. Follow him into the house he enters. 11 Tell the owner of the house, 'The Teacher asks you, "Where is the guest room where I can eat the Passover with my disciples?"' 12 Then he will show you a large, furnished room upstairs. Make the preparations there."

Luke 22:10-12

Our word in question in this passage is translated as 'guest room,' and Jesus even describes it for us: a large, furnished room that is upstairs. That seems to be a very, very strong point in favor of NOT translating our word to Inn, but leaning towards 'guest room,' as the CSB does. I'll give one more bit of evidence that tips the scale. It is very clear that Luke (and other New Testament authors) have a word that they use for 'inn,' and that word is πανδοχεῖον. It is found in Luke 10:34, in the middle of the Parable of the Good Samaritan:

He went over to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on olive oil and wine. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an >inn>, and took care of him.

Luke 10:34

These two bits of evidence are strong enough, to me, that I believe that Mary and Joseph were NOT rejected by an innkeeper (there is never one mentioned.), but that the house they were planning on staying in - probably the house of one of their relatives - had a full guest room.

Our next question: Was Jesus born in a stable? The answer is, probably not. Not a single animal is mentioned in Luke 2, but there is, of course, a manger - which is an animal food trough. Christians outside of the Middle East for hundreds of years have assumed that Jesus was born in a stable, largely because they are unfamiliar with a typical first century Jewish house, and they believe that mangers belong in stables. However, Kenneth E. Bailey ( a New Testament scholar who lived in the Middle East for 60 years) and Monte F. Shelly paint a different, and far more persuasive picture:

"Any Palestinian reading the phrase, "She laid him in a manger," would immediately assume that the birth took place in a private home, because he knows that mangers are built into the floor of the raised terrace of the peasant home." 7 Typical village home in Palestine with attached guest room "Simple village homes … were often an extension of a small cave if one was available." Justin Martyr [c. AD 160] "grew up in the Holy Land … and he records that Jesus was born in a cave. This cave tradition is the universal assumption across all of the ancient Eastern Christian churches." "Simple village homes often had but two rooms. One was exclusively for guests. That room was attached to the end of the house or … on the roof … (1 Kgs 17:19). The main room was a 'family room' where the entire family cooked, ate, slept and lived." They slept on mats that they would take up in the morning (Matt 2:9–11). "The end of the room next to the door, was either a few feet lower than the rest of the floor or blocked off. … Each night into that designated area, the family cow, donkey, and a few sheep would be driven. And every morning those same animals were taken out and tied up in the courtyard of the house. … A guest room [was on the flat roof], or … the end of the house. The door on the lower level serves as an entrance for people and animals. The farmer wants the animals in the house each night because they provide heat in winter and are safe from theft. … The elongated circles represent mangers dug out of the lower end of the living room. … If the family cow is hungry during the night, she can … eat. … Mangers for sheep can be of wood and placed on the floor of the lower level." 9 "Such homes can be traced from 1000 BC up to 1950." 10 Guest Room kataluma Family Living Mangers Room Steps "Stable" Several verses imply such a house. One lamp on a candlestick gives "light to all … in the house" (Matt 5:15). "The woman had a fat calf in the house" (1 Sam 28:24). When Jephthah vowed to sacrifice whatever came out "of the doors of my house to meet me," he apparently expected an animal to come out (Judg 11:31). After healing a woman on the Sabbath, Jesus asked, "Doth not each one of you on the sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall, and lead him away to watering?" (Lk 13:15) In an ancient Arabic New Testament, this verse says, "does not every one of you untie his ox or his donkey from the manger in the house and take it outside and water it?" 11 Early Christians believed Isaiah was referring to Jesus in the manger when he said, "The ox knows his master, and the donkey his owner's manger" (NIV Isa. 1:3), Since the second century, an ox and a donkey have been included in art and nativity scenes. "But that manger was in a warm and friendly home, not in a cold and lonely stable"

http://www.sviewp.com/RCbook/Bailey-%20Christmas%20-%20Middle%20Eastern%20Eyes.pdf

In this understanding, Jesus would not have been born in a stable, but more of what modern people in the West might call a basement, or a garage. Does ANY of this impact anything important about the birth of Jesus, or the Gospel? Of course not! But it is fun, and interesting, to dig deep into the original languages of the Bible and learn as much as we can about the world of Jesus.

Today's passages include this encouraging little ditty from our depressed friend Job, "Anyone born of woman is short of days and full of trouble." (Job 14:1), and it only gets worse from there. This chapter is all depressing and absolutely hopeless. Fortunately, it's wrong. God tells Job this at the end of Job, and Job confesses that he spoke out of ignorance. Job wasn't sinfully wrong - he was ignorantly wrong in his assertions and claims. In the second half of Luke (from vs. 38 on) we see Mary's beautiful song of praise and Zechariah's stirring prophecy. 1 Corinthians 2 sees Paul contrasting the power of speech with a different (and higher) kind of power. Our focus passage in Genesis 48 for today, and it is all about blessing...and it's high time we talked about blessing on this podcast. Let's read and then discuss this neglected command, calling and privilege that Christians have today.

A few days ago when we read Romans 12 together, we heard this COMMAND from Paul. (all caps!) in verse 14, "Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. " Dozens of times in Scripture, the people of God are called to bless people. Unfortunately, In current times, when I say the word blessing, the first two things that most people think of is #1 prayer before a meal, and #2 something you give to people when they sneeze so that demons don't fly up their nose in a vulnerable moment. Neither thing is remotely related to the biblical idea of a blessing. Before we go deeper in blessing, I do want to rabbit trail on sneezing for a moment.

Sneezing is a very interesting human phenomenon that religious people have made a big deal about over the centuries. In Islam the prophet Muhammad instructed Muslims who sneeze to say " "Thanks to Allah", and whoever hears them say that should reply "may Allah have mercy on you", and the person who sneezed should reply "May Allah Guide you to the right path and calm your mind", and for repeated sneezes, they keep replying the same reply for a maximum of three times, by then the reply is changed to meaning "May Allah heal you" and the replies stop. According to the Hadiths, the Islamic god likes sneezing, but yawns are from the satan.

Lest you think I am making fun of Islamic people, Christians have also had peculiar ideas about sneezing. The early church father Augustine wrote of a number of superstitions he was familiar with:

Some people are often so superstitious that they even dare to strike a dog that has run between them, but not without paying the penalty. Sometimes the dog sends his smiter quickly away from a ridiculous practice to a real physician. Other practices like this are: to tread upon the sill when you cross in front of your house; to go back to bed if you sneeze while putting on your shoes; to return home if you stumble on your way to a certain place; to be more disturbed by the premonition of a future calamity than concerned about the present damage if mice gnaw at your clothing.

Augustine of Hippo, Christian Instruction; Admonition and Grace; The Christian Combat; Faith, Hope and Charity, ed. Roy Joseph Deferrari, trans. John J. Gavigan et al., Second Edition., vol. 2, The Fathers of the Church (Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 1950), 89.

Our friend Augustine also had some pretty interesting rules that he laid down to Christians about sneezing:

At banquets, we should not be forever spitting or violently coughing or blowing our nose. We must consider the feelings of our companions at table, and avoid disgusting or nauseating them by our crude conduct, testifying to our own lack of self-control. Not even cattle or asses relieve nature at their feeding troughs, yet many people blow their nose and keep spitting while engaged at table. Again, if a sneeze take us by surprise, or, even more so, a belch, we need not deafen our neighbor with the noise and in so doing exhibit our lack of manners. A belch should be released silently, as we exhale, with our mouths shut, not wide open and gaping like the masks of the tragedy. The irritation that causes a sneeze may be relieved by quietly holding the breath; therefore, we should suppress the accumulated force of the breath politely by controlling our exhaling, so as to try to pass unnoticed if some of the excessive air, under pressure, escapes. It is a sign of boorishness and of lack of discipline to want to add to the noises, rather than lessen them. And those who scrape their teeth so much that they draw blood from their gums, besides injuring themselves, also annoy their companions. And beyond a doubt, scratching the ear and irritations to prompt sneezing are gestures proper to swine, suggestive of the search for immoral pleasures.

Clement of Alexandria, Christ the Educator, trans. P. Simon Wood, vol. 23, The Fathers of the Church (Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 1954), 145.

I hope you learned something about sneezing from that - but this pod is NOT about sneezing, it is about blessings. A blessing is a theological reality and a biblical privilege that we do NOT walk in enough. Right before Jesus left - what did He do?? THE VERY LAST THING….

50 Then He led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up His hands He blessed them. 51 And while He was blessing them, He left them and was carried up into heaven. 52 After worshiping Him, they returned to Jerusalem with great joy. (Luke 24:50-52)

Before we had kids, we made some great friends who were slightly older than us, and they did have kids. It was such a treasure to be around people that had experience with such things, even though they were only a few years older than us. One thing I learned from the dad, Michael - every night before his kids went to bed, he would call them over (or go to them) and bless them. I don't mean pray for them, though he would do that some too. I mean, he would bless them. Some might be asking - what does that mean?

Let's look at Numbers 6, 22-27: "The Lord spoke to Moses: 23 "Tell Aaron and his sons how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them: 24 May Yahweh bless you and protect you; 25 may Yahweh make His face shine on you and be gracious to you; 26 may Yahweh look with favor on you and give you peace.27 In this way they will pronounce My name over the Israelites, and I will bless them."

DO you see that at the end? The priest Aaron blesses the people, and then God says - I WILL BLESS THEM. WOW - if only we were priests, right? Then we could bless people too - AND GOD WOULD BLESS THEM!! And here it is - WE ARE! Take a look at 1 Peter 2:9 and see that WE ARE PRIESTS!

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of the One who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.

1 Peter 2:9

WE ARE PRIESTS! Not just the pastors among us, but ALL CHRISTIANS! We are the Light of the World, We are a City on A Hill. We are a Royal Priesthood, we are the Body of Christ - We are Jars of Clay, in and of ourselves, but inside us is the incredible treasure of Jesus - Christ in us, the Hope of Glory! So, we are commanded to bless, and I believe God blesses what we bless. SO I BLESS MY KIDS OFTEN, and bless my friends and strangers often too. Earlier this week, I had the privilege of blessing some people in the hospital with me. Fellow patients, as well as nurses and medical professionals. Not because I'm a pastor, but because I'm a child of the King with the privilege and honor to bless people.

And - here's some more good news: NOT ONLY DOES GOD BLESS WHEN WE BLESS - HE WILL BLESS US FOR BLESSING OTHERS!

Now finally, all of you should be like-minded and sympathetic, should love believers, and be compassionate and humble, 9 not paying back evil for evil or insult for insult but, on the contrary, giving a blessing, since you were called for this, so that you can inherit a blessing

1 Peter 3:8-9

There is power and benefit in the blessing of a person of God - power so serious that Jacob fought for it and Isaac wept when he realized that he had blessed the wrong person.

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse….If your enemy is hungry, feed him.If he is thirsty, give him something to drink.For in so doing you will be heaping fiery coals on his head .21 Do not be conquered by evil, but conquer evil with good.

Romans 12:14 and 21

Bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.

Luke 6:28

When we are reviled, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; 13 when we are slandered, we respond graciously.

1 Corinthians 4:12-13

When we bless we are CONQUERING with GOOD because there is LIFE CHANGING POWER IN BLESSING. It brings the presence of God and the purifying power of God into a place that is desecrated and tainted by the stain of sin.

Still recovering a bit from my hospital stay today, but rejoicing at the grace of Jesus and His people as I went through that small ordeal. Today's readings begin with Genesis 47, where we see Joseph initiate a 20% tax on the Egyptians output, which seems like a pretty fair number if that is the sum total of taxes paid by the Egyptian people. Sounds like something of a flat tax proposal - but I note that Pharaoh keeps the land...so most Americans wouldn't go for that. Job 13 features our broken-hearted hero offering up many heart-wrenching lamentations to God. We begin a new book today - The Gospel According to Luke, and the whole first chapter is devoted to the preparation for the birth of Jesus. Thanks to Robert Murray M'Cheyne's reading plan, we are only reading the first 38 verses of Luke today. Zechariah's prophecy is fantastic, and underrated, as far as I'm concerned. Our focus passage is also from a new book, 1 Corinthians, and we are zeroing in on what is the essential core of the Christian message in this passage. Let's read it together, and then wrestle with the questions it raises.

Allow me to open with a question: What cause or what person are you a Champion for?

• I have an online "friend" who claims to be a Christian and a minister. I'm in a group she is in, and 90+ percent of her posts are about the importance of biblical feminism - her words, not mine. She is a champion for biblical feminism - that seems to be the most important thing to her.
• I have other friends, who, at various times are evangelists for essential oils, various wrapping things - that actually work, if I'm being informed correctly, different nutritional beverages and shakeologies, something called "Crossfit" which I'm not sure is a Christian thing or not, but apparently makes you look quite svelte, various other nutritional things, and such. They are champions for those products and ideals.
• Myself? I post about this podcast an awful lot, and about what our church is doing. - I'm also trying to become a writer, and therefore I can tend to post about my books and articles a good bit, especially when I have just written one. I suppose that makes me a champion for ….myself? That sounds quite embarrassingly narcissistic, so lets move on, shall we?
• What about you? What are YOU a champion for? Is it Home-schooling? (I agree - I'm a huge fan) Is it organic foods? Breast feeding? Natural birth? Fantasy football? A particular politician? Enmity against a particular politician? Cereal? A third party candidate? A football team? Vaccinations - or non vaccinations? What is YOUR thing that you are eager to talk about - eager to persuade people on. YOUR soapbox issue? I would ask you to consider that you are a champion for that thing.

Let me ask it in a more pointed way: What are you an EVANGELIST for.

Mom and Dad - your kids need Jesus. You can discipline them, and you should. You can teach them, and you should. You can train them, and you should. You can educate them, and you should. YOU CANNOT CHANGE THEM. YOU CANNOT SAVE THEM. They need Jesus. Are you, in their eyes, primarily a champion of Jesus? ARE YOU, IN THEIR EYES, PRIMARILY AN EVANGELIST TO THEM OF JESUS?!

Day in, day out they need Jesus. As toddlers, as tweens, as teens and as adults - they need to be constantly seeing you point them to Jesus.

CONSIDER THIS A PARENTING PASSAGE, A PREACHING PASSAGE, A TEACHING PASSAGE, or a LEADING PASSAGE: 1 Corinthians 1:20 Where is the philosopher? Where is the scholar? Where is the debater of this age? Hasn't God made the world's wisdom foolish? 21 For since, in God's wisdom, the world did not know God through wisdom, God was pleased to save those who believe through the foolishness of the message preached. 22 For the Jews ask for signs and the Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles.

Spurgeon: "The motto of all true servants of God must be, 'We preach Christ; and him crucified.' A sermon without Christ in it is like a loaf of bread without any flour in it. No Christ in your sermon, sir? Then go home, and never preach again until you have something worth preaching." A sermon without Christ as its beginning, middle, and end is a mistake in conception and a crime in execution. However grand the language it will be merely much-ado-about-nothing if Christ be not there. And I mean by Christ not merely his example and the ethical precepts of his teaching, but his atoning blood, his wondrous satisfaction made for human sin, and the grand doctrine of look to Him in faith and live"

No Christ in your parenting, ma'am? Sir? No Christ in your marriage? No Christ in your pastoring? No Christ in your leading? Then scrap it all and start over again - with Christ as the keystone and the foundation. Parenting without Jesus in its beginning, middle and end is a mistake in conception and a crime in execution...it is much ado about nothing.

Hebrews 12:1-2 WE MUST BE EVANGELISTS WHO TEACH OUR KIDS TO FIX THEIR EYES ON JESUS: And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.

Hello everybody, and I'm sorry for being late on this edition of the podcast. I have a decent excuse, I think. Yesterday (Wednesday) at 4pm, I went out and jogged a few miles. Got home, showered and ate in preparation to go teach at our church, Valley Baptist Church, which you should visit if you are in Salinas/Monterey. Unfortunately, my heart started racing and wouldn't stop, and so I had my eldest daughter drive me to the emergency room. They admitted me and ran more tests on me than I took in fifth grade, and drew more blood out of me than a hefty vampire eats in a decade. I know, I know - fat shaming vampires is wrong. I am sorry, Drac. Anyway...they finally let me out around 6pm and said that everything with my heart was good, and thank you for all of the blood. So - here I am. Drained, but unwilling to miss a day on our podcast venture.

Today's readings are in Genesis 46, which sees Israel leave and settle in Egypt. Job 12, which sees Job fire an awesome snarky snap-back at Zophar, and Romans 16 in which Paul commends the mysterious Phoebe. One episode soon, we will discuss whether or not Phoebe was a deacon, but today's focus is on the resurrection, and how we can know Jesus overcame death. Because I lost a day to my involuntary blood-donation drive, I am going to read a chapter out of my book Easter, Fact or Fiction, which discusses an interesting - maybe absurd - reason to believe Jesus rose from the dead. Yes, I know that is slightly lame. To counterbalance it, I'll send a free copy of that book - paperback form - to anybody who leaves an iTunes review this week. Just screenshot it and send it to my email address. That might be lame too, but cut me some slack, as I am bloodless. (Look for a future upcoming episode on the so-called longer ending Mark - is it legit?)

In Genesis 45, which we are reading today, something profoundly important happens that will determine the next 400+ years in the lives of God's people, the descendants of Abraham. Joseph reveals himself to his brothers, and tells them to go get their father Israel (Jacob) and bring him to Egypt. Unbeknownst to all of them, the family of Israel would stay in Egypt for hundreds of years, and bloom into a great nation - a nation of slaves - who will be rescued by God through a murderer with a speech impediment named Moses. Job chapter 11 introduces us to a new friend of Job, Zophar, and he is a bit of an idiot from the start. That may sound unkind, but Zophar's first words (to a man who has just lost his entire family -other than his mean wife - and all his possessions) are insults (calling Job a babbler and ridiculer) and false accusations. Zophar accuses Job of declaring himself pure in God's sight, and then urges Job to repent. The only problem is that, according to God, Job hadn't sinned, and had nothing to repent of. There are a lot of Zophars in Christendom - they sound very spiritual, and they say some good things, but there is venom on their tongue and they often accuse the innocent. Let's not be Zophars! Mark 15 is focused on the crucifixion of Jesus, the most unjust occurrence in all of human history - in our favor. In Mark 15, we see something interesting about Jesus' followers. Generally most people focus on the male disciples, but it is clear from the New Testament that Jesus also had female followers that were absolute crucial to His ministry:

40 There were also women watching from a distance. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome. 41 In Galilee these women followed him and took care of him. Many other women had come up with him to Jerusalem.

Mark 15:40-41

These women "took care" of Jesus - they ministered to the chief minister! That's pretty amazing. Our focus passage today is Romans 15, and we will continue our discussion on unity from yesterday. As we read it, pay close attention to verses 5 and 6:

5 Now may the God who gives endurance and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, according to Christ Jesus, 6 so that you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ with one mind and one voice.

Romans 15:5-6

By God's grace and nothing else, I have been able to serve in various pastoral ministries for the last 25 years. At some point in those early days of ministry, I encountered Jesus prayer in John 17 that we discussed a good bit on yesterday's episode #42. His plea to God the Father that His followers be in complete unity struck me to the depths of my being - it resonated with me as something very, very crucial. The first two churches that I served in had conflict issues among the senior staff and overall leaders of the church. I was part of the junior staff at both of those churches, and didn't have much say in the direction of the church, so I missed out on most of the direct conflicts, but caught little hints along the way. One day over 20 years ago, I found a little note written from one pastor to another pastor that suggested that I had somehow "chosen sides" in an ongoing church conflict, and I was quite astonished at this, as I didn't really understand the nature of the conflict, nor was a I aware that there were sides to it, and I certainly wasn't aware that I had chosen a side. Heartbroken, I resigned from that ministry to focus on finishing up my college degree. There were no hard feelings at all, as I remained with that church for years after, and respected all of the men in leadership. I just didn't understand the conflict. At the next church I served in, there was also conflict among the leaders - conflict which eventually led to the senior pastor converting to Roman Catholicism (!), and a meeting that threatened to split the church. I am pretty sure, in my young immaturity and zeal, that I contributed to that conflict in ungodly ways, so I quietly resigned from that church as well after three years of ministry with an incredible group of kids. Somewhere in the midst of all of that, I began to be strongly impressed by the Bible's teaching on unity, and resolved to the best of my ability to work towards unity in the church. If Jesus prayed for it to happen, it must be important, right?!

The problem is that unity does not come easily. You have your opinions, I have mine, and other people have theirs. We are all sinners with an inborn flaw that causes us to walk in pride and not realize that we are doing so. Unity has to be fought for, and I am one of the chief enemies of unity, so my sinful nature, my pride, and my desire to be right has to be crucified. It is NOT an accident that Paul calls us to make EVERY EFFORT to be at peace with each other:

2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope at your calling

Ephesians 4:2-4

This is an important and central issue in the church - this is not one we can miss on. The eyes of non-believers, baby-believers, children and the next generation of pastors and leaders are on those who are now leading the church. They are listening to our dinner table conversations, overhearing our complaints, and reading our social media posts. If they see us walking in disunity, pride, and demanding our own way, then they will grow up and do the same thing, maybe even worse. Eyes are on us, leaders of the church, and thus does the Bible say to us to make EVERY EFFORT to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.

As a Church let us shake off envyings; let us all rejoice in God's light; and as for pride—if any of you have grown vainglorious of late, shake it off. I hope to exercise a ministry in this place which will drive out those of you who will not acknowledge your brothers when they are poorer or of less education than yourselves. What if the man mars the Queen's English when he talks—what does that matter, so long as his heart is right? As long as you can feel he loves the Master, surely you can put up with his faults of language, if he can put up with your faults of action. Then let us cultivate everything that would tend to unity. Are any sick? Let us care for them. Are any suffering? Let us weep with them. Do we know one who has less love than others? then let us have more, so as to make up the deficiency. Do we perceive faults in a brother? let us admonish him in love and affection. I pray you be peacemakers, everyone... Let us remember that we cannot keep the unity of the Spirit unless we all believe the truth of God. Let us search our Bibles, therefore, and conform our views and sentiments to the teaching of God's Word. I have already told you that unity in error is unity in ruin. We want unity in the truth of God through the Spirit of God. This let us seek after; let us live near to Christ, for this is the best way of promoting unity.

Divisions in Churches never begin with those full of love to the Saviour. Cold hearts, unholy lives, inconsistent actions, neglected prayer closets; these are the seeds which sow schisms in the body; but he who lives near to Jesus, wears his likeness and copies his example and will be, wherever he goes, a sacred bond, a holy link to bind the Church more closely than ever together. May God give us this, and henceforth let us endeavour to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. I commend the text to all believers, to be practiced through the coming year.

C. H. Spurgeon, "True Unity Promoted," in The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, vol. 11 (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1865), 10–11.

Jesus commands unity and oneness in His church and prays for it. The very idea that continuationist believers like John Piper, Sam Storms, Martyn Lloyd Jones, J.I. Packer and D.A. Carson should not be in the same church with cessationist believers like Charles Spurgeon, Tim Keller, Thomas Schreiner, and David Platt hurts my heart and goes against the prayer of Jesus for unity in John 17. Do you picture arriving at the gates of Heaven, and Jesus addressing you with something like, "Well done thou good and faithful servant - you only stuck closely and had the biblical oneness and unity I commanded with those who adhered to the 1689 London Baptist Confession, and you refused to worship together with or partner in the Great Commission with anybody else"? Because, I don't believe that is going to happen. When Paul commanded Christians to be of one mind and one voice, and Jesus prayed for unity among His followers, I don't believe we have the freedom to separate from each other over non-essential doctrinal issues like spiritual gifts, our interpretation of the last days, what kind of worship we should conduct, the clothes we should wear, or the exact nature of how God's sovereignty works in determining salvation. We may not all go to the same church, but we must all - clearly and obviously - demonstrate the unity of the Spirit made possible by the bond of peace that binds us together in Christ.