Automated transcript of the sermon audio, generated with OpenAI Whisper (small.en). It has not been checked against the recording and may contain errors, especially in names and Scripture references.

Well I want to encourage you to open your Bibles to Ephesians chapter 2. We're going to be exclusively there this evening. No cross references, nothing. I love Ephesians chapter 2. I was talking with Mr. Higgins about it this morning. Sorry I'm around students a lot. Reverend Sean. And he was saying, but doesn't Ephesians 2 like preach itself? Well, when I used to teach a Bible class, I would have my sophomore Bible students, it was a systematic theology class, we would memorize Ephesians 2 because just on its face, just by simply reading the words, there are few chapters in Scripture that will lay you flat and will divest men of any sort of pride, any sort of temptation to rob God of His glory in terms of their own salvation, as will Ephesians 2.

these words are potent. And as we have opportunity on these Sunday evenings to be looking at a handful of epistles, we are now in the second installment in Ephesians. So we are hence in Ephesians chapter two. And the whole of the chapter is my aim for tonight. You might recall when we finished chapter chapter one some time ago that Paul wrapped up chapter one with a pretty lofty prayer. Verses 15 through 23 show us that and he's kind of already in motion. There's no chapter breaks in the original text of course and so the transition from the end of chapter one to the start of chapter two is rather smooth if we would read it that way.

So when chapter two begins, he's, like I said, already going, and is talking about the work of Christ and its implications for us. You may recall as well, if you look back at it, that Paul's prayer was that the work that God the Father had done in Christ for our redemption would be enacted in those believers themselves. And that's pretty crazy when you think about all of the work, the degree of work, not necessarily that God was tired, but the magnitude of the work that the Father did in redemption, and then for that work to be done in the believers too would be profound. But here the focus of his prayer, especially in the first part, is regeneration.

And regeneration is the bringing to life, granting of spiritual life to the spiritually dead. As I mentioned, this is one of the clearest passages then in all of scripture regarding this, the means and then the implications of salvation. Namely, who does the work of salvation and what happens when he does? You might also recall that as with a number of other Pauline letters, this is divided rather neatly into two major sections. This book is, chapters one through three are mostly doctrinal, theological, and then chapters four through six are application oriented. And that clear divide happens in a number of other Pauline epistles too.

And so chapters one, two, three, chapter two is firmly right in the middle of that doctrinal section. Nevertheless, I've entitled this evening's message, Sovereign Redemption Applied. Not necessarily looking at theology applied, but the application of redemption to sinners and to nations. The chapter itself is divided pretty neatly as well into two longish paragraphs. We find them in verses one through 10 and then in verses 11 through 22. And so those fit neatly with our main headings for tonight. So for chapter two verses one through 10, I want to look at redemption as applied to sinners, or what I'm calling micro-redemption.

And then in verses 11 through 22, we see redemption applied to the nations, or what I'm calling macro-redemption. Micro-redemption, macro-redemption. If you're looking for two big headings, those will be it. And there's also going to be parallel outlines within each of those two big headings too. And we'll get to those in just a moment. So to begin, I'm going to go ahead and read Ephesians two verses one through 10. And then we will examine micro redemption. So let's look at Ephesians two one through 10. I've got the ESV before me here. And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked following the course of this world, following the prince of the power the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind.

But God, being rich in mercy because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ, by grace you have been and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God, not a result of works so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

So in this paragraph, I want us to consider the objects of redemption, the fact of redemption, and then the purpose of redemption, and we'll look at those in turn. And in order to do so, I will be reading more from the text itself. So let's look again at verses one through three. You were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind and were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind.

Now obviously when you're trying to take a look at an entire chapter in one talk, you aren't afforded the opportunity to zero in or drill down too deeply at individual words. We're looking at chunks of the text itself. And so we just have to sort of take that bird's eye view in order to get the look at the whole chapter. Paul is writing his letter to Christians. That's important. That's important to know. They are themselves among the redeemed. And for sake of their own faith and for Christ's glory, he wants to remind them of their situation prior to their salvation. So he wants to remind them of what they were redeemed out of, what they used to be, like.

And stated very plainly, they were absolutely dead to spiritual things. Being dead in their sins, being dead in the trespasses and sins in which they once walked. Now I'm not really sure that Paul could have used clearer or stronger language to express that they had absolutely no hand whatsoever in their salvation.

But, many evangelicals today suppose that Paul is overstating his case just a little bit here. The trendy notion among many Christians today is that salvation is cooperative. That God does his 99%, maybe even more. We definitely need grace. Men can't save themselves. God does all his work, but he can't do everything. And to do so would actually make him just a slave driver or would reduce us to robots or automatons. So we have to do that infinitesimally small percentage of receiving the work that Christ has done for us, of receiving that gift. God does his part, we do the rest and simply showing up and receiving.

Well, as it turns out, there's a difference between sickness and death. A man who's sick actually might be able to do that, but a man who is dead cannot. Many of you know, are familiar with Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. I read it again this last Christmas season. I've read it a bunch of times. I read it every couple of years anyway. And it is very funny that, well, it's not a very funny start to the story, but if you're watching people reading it in the movie, in the movie, they never read the first couple of sentences. The first couple of sentences establish one very clear fact, namely that Scrooge's business partner, Marley, was dead.

He wasn't sick because a sick man in the county house is quite different from a dead man. And he says, there's no doubt that Marley was dead. This must be distinctly understood or nothing wonderful can come of the story that I'm going to relate. It's almost like you can hear Paul here saying, guys, you have to understand this. You were dead dead. And if we can't establish that you were spiritually dead, then nothing wonderful can come of the story that I'm about to relate. You were dead and God gave you life. It wasn't a matter of healing spiritually sick people.

It was a matter of bringing to spiritual life those who once were dead in their trespasses and sins. So, if we fail to recognize that as natural men, we were dead, we fail to marvel rightly at what God has accomplished in giving us spiritual life, and we ultimately fail to honor Him as we ought, if man can share any of God's credit for salvation, then basically our salvation is not such a big deal. If it's a cooperative effort, then we also deserve a clap on the back. Men have then reason to boast. So we, the redeemed, like those Gentiles at Ephesus who embraced Christ, we like them, were once spiritually dead, haters of God, followers of the devil, and those outside of Christ are not only disinterested in righteousness, they're actually under the influence of the devil.

That also seems like strong language, but it's not mine. They followed the prince of the power of the heir. And really other than that, we had everything going for us. So spiritually dead, followers of the devil, and we're rescued. Lest there be then any confusion, Paul's indictment of mankind extends beyond those Gentiles of Asia Minor to include all of humanity among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh. So we, Christians in 21st century America, are absolutely included in that indictment apart from redemption. We look second at the fact of redemption, we find this in verses 4-6. But God being rich in mercy because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ by grace you have been saved and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

This is the statement then of what God has done for individual sinners. We can see a lot here about the character of God. These verses are instructive about the nature of God. I'm not going down that path too much, but we can see that God is in fact rich in mercy. We see as well that He loves us even when we sin, which is important later on when we we find out the purpose, the purpose is great and cannot be separated from his love for us even if it is to showcase his own attributes. We see as well that God is no tightwad when it comes to the blessing of his people. He pours out on his people lavish blessings that surpass description in the New Testament.

So while dead in our trespasses, God gave his sheep new life And these are all ways of saying the very same thing. Verse six, again, don't want to drill down too much tonight, but it's a little bit tricky, but we, and we won't take too much time to go into it, but it does have to do with our positional situation in Christ. It's been said before that the whole of the Christian life is about becoming what you already are. Positionally, we are already sanctified. We are identified with Him, we are set apart, and then that's already happened spiritually, Practically, as the Christian life goes on, and as we worship and God uses our worship and other Christians influence and his word to conform us more to his son's image, we become more practically sanctified.

So over time we become practically more like Christ, while positionally we're already, we've already received his righteousness, and so positionally we're already sanctified. Positionally, we're already in the heavenlies with Christ. It's a done deal. And what Christ has done, what God has done for Christ, He's also done for sinners as well. So we'll leave it at that for now, but speaking plainly, verses four through six tell us that God saved wicked sinners. He gave them spiritual life. And in the verses that follow, we find out the why and the purpose of redemption. Look first at verse seven. This is the purpose of redemption.

It's verses seven through 10. I wanna look first at verse seven. So that, I think it's a great so that. There's a great sermon by Martin Lloyd Jones on, but God, and that's, we actually just read that and I skated right over it. If he can go off for a while on but God, I can go off on a while so that. Because in this study, these two words jumped off the page to me, because they tell you purpose. There's a reason for what's come before this. So that, in the coming ages, he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. God saved us to show off the immeasurable riches of his grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

That's a comprehensive statement. And what that means is what God purposed in our salvation is summed up in that. He desired to show off for the cosmos and for the spiritual powers, his gracious nature. Now, that is true. That does not mean that's everything that is shown off, but it is true that that is why we are saved, is to show off his gracious nature. It does not explain, for instance, what attributes of God's nature are showcased in the condemnation of the wicked, or the damnation of the wicked, for instance. Nevertheless, it does talk about the purpose behind salvation, which is Paul's aim in these verses.

Paul wanted his readers to do their best to try to wrap their minds, to fathom, to wrap their minds around what God had done on their behalf. And he's gone to great length to showcase his grace to us in Christ. Salvation, as you've already established, is monergistic. There's one worker, there's one agent, and that is God. He initiates, He gives us the ability and the interest to respond. Unless and until He works, we have no interest in spiritual things at all. And then He enables us and gives us His Spirit to live differently in the world, showcasing the work that God has done in us. And we see in verses 8 through 9 how that plays out.

Verses 8, actually, let's go all the way through verse 10. For by grace you have been saved, this is verse 8, for by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing. It is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus, for good works, which God prepared beforehand, so that we should walk in them." So again, this represents then what God has done in order to show off the immeasurable riches of His grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. He has saved us by grace through faith. He's prepared good works for us to walk in and given us the energy and the desire to go ahead and do that.

why Christians look different in their conduct in the world. And it is all to show off the immeasurable riches of His grace. I've been thinking about the confession meditation for this morning. The way that Christians conduct themselves as free from the confines of sin, from the trappings of sin and all that they look like, that just the freedom that Christians enjoy and practice should make the world jealous. Should cause them to look and say, I don't understand how that person can be so free but I want that. And it's not about a shiny car, it's not about a big house, it's about a freedom that cannot be purchased because it's already been bought. It's It's about a freedom that is characterized in joy, and it's on the long list of things that God has prepared beforehand for us to simply walk in.

God gives us saving faith. It's not a reward, it is a gift. And in his sovereign grace, God has actually prepared beforehand the good works in which we are unable to walk. But remember again, the stated purpose of verse seven, to show the immeasurable riches of his grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. God saves us for Himself and for the expression of His glorious grace. Now there will no doubt be some who think that this colors God as egomaniacal or that it cheapens the value of man. It's popular even in our culture to tell people, man God is so crazy about you. He loves you like crazy. So much that He gave Jesus because He wanted to have a relationship with you.

I'm not going to talk. It is true, according to verse 4, that God loves us. Absolutely. But it is orienting in a different way to realize that God has saved us to showcase His graces, to showcase His gracious character. The greatest expression of God's love for us was the bringing about of our salvation, and all that that entails, Christ's work on the cross for our redemption, is an expression of His grace. Further then, we are instruments of God's grace to be showcased to the cosmos, to all creation. And we can only say that that diminishes the value of salvation. We can only say that that cheapens the view of man, that we're just tools in God's cosmic game.

We can only say that if we actually believe that the showcasing of God's grace is no big deal. But if we believe that God is God, if we believe that He is sovereign, if we believe that He is supreme, ultimate, and preeminent, then all of the aspects of His character, all attributes of who He is need to be expressed. And we play a very, very valuable role in the expression of His grace. God is great and His glory must be expressed. Our glory is not as great as we think and we would do well to gain a little bit of humility. But the God of Scripture saved the Ephesians sinners all by Himself. He didn't need any help.

He didn't need their help, certainly. And He gave them, and He gives us, love and grace instead of what we deserve. Now I want to take the helicopter up 30,000 feet and look at not just individual sinners, but the Jews and the Gentiles. So we'll look at redemption applied to the nations or macro-redemption. I'm thinking about coining that. I want to get a quarter every time somebody says it. Macro redemption. All right, let's look at the longest paragraph. Ephesians chapter two verses 11 to 22, I'll read the whole thing. Therefore, remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh called the uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision which is made in flesh, in the flesh by hands.

Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments and ordinances that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.

And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure being joined together grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him, you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. Now in this paragraph as well, I want us to consider the same three headings, the objects of redemption, we're gonna find that in verse 11 and 12, the fact of redemption, verse 13 through the first half of verse 15, and the purpose of redemption, that's the second half verse 15 through the end of the chapter.

And I think it's pretty easy to overanalyze this paragraph and to get too far down in the weeds, supposing that it's some sort of eschatological silver bullet for covenantalists or dispensationalists in their theological gunfights or sparring matches. Well, I think that misses the point that Paul's making. In fact, I think a child can understand what Paul's getting at. In Christ, salvation has been extended to the nations. The people of God comprise Jews and Gentiles alike. Where Gentiles were once strangers, they're now brothers. Where Israel was once a solitary voice to the nation, she is now joined by millions of adopted brothers.

And Christ is a cornerstone of this building, this one new building, that's it. And the people of God now include Jews and Gentiles, which has been God's plan all along. And it is for God's good and for our glory. And we're gonna watch Paul unpack this briefly. This is pretty, The more time I spent in the paragraph, it seemed like the simpler and simpler and simpler the message got. And hopefully it is clear as we look at it this evening. First look again at verses 11 and 12. Remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh called the circumcision, but it is what is called the uncircumcision which is made in the flesh by human hands.

Remember you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. Yeah, it's no secret that apart from Christ, the Gentiles were separated from Christ, alienated from the common mult of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope without God in the world. They had no hope for salvation and they hated God. The heart of man is an idol factory. Gentiles had very, very firmly established polytheistic religious practices, no matter in all the different cultures, across all of antiquity, and then there's this little tiny pocket in antiquity called Israel.

And they had no hope for salvation. Their laws reflected that, their worshipers reflected that. For at best, they were just trying to pacify their gods. And salvation has come now to the Gentiles through the Jews. Now, we have to acknowledge that Gentiles, and I think even in some of our circles people can miss this, Gentiles have always been a part of God's plan. The scripture is emphatically clear about that. He has always intended to save the Gentiles. His salvation has always been aimed at the nations. In fact, Israel was supposed to be a mouthpiece to the nations and they failed miserably. But we'll get more to that in chapter 3.

I don't want to steal too much of my own thunder when we get to that and the genius of God on display in the church. But it is clearly too small a thing for God to simply redeem the lost house of Israel. We know that. He wants for His salvation to extend to the nations. And we see some interesting Gentile characters in the Old Testament too from Melchizedek to Rahab, to those Ninevites that Jonah did not want to preach to because he knew, he just knew, he knew that God was going to be merciful to them and he didn't want that. So those Ninevites were, they were Gentiles. And he continues to have, I'm sorry, we see that throughout the Old Testament and he continues to have obviously mercy on the Gentiles today, but it's no piece of news that the Gentiles could be saved. And now Now after the cross and with the arrival of the church age, the plan of God to extend salvation to the nations has really taken off.

I mean, that's a good thing. Paul is himself an apostle to the Gentiles and though he continues to have particular affection for his Jewish brothers. We know that from Acts, we know that from Romans. And of course Paul's Ephesian readers were Gentiles living in Asia Minor. I showed you a cool map last time, like what modern day Turkey is and where Ephesus is and all the rest. And they were now gloriously numbered among the redeemed, right there with redeemed Jews to whom salvation had come first." So we're looking here at the objects of redemption were Gentile sinners nationally, not just Jews to whom salvation came first.

Look at me at verses 13 through the first half of verse 15 at the fact of redemption. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ for he himself is our Peace who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility By abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances This whole paragraph is seasoned with the gospel spices of peace and reconciliation I just love it. In Christ we are reconciled to God and He has destroyed the hostility that once existed between Jews and Gentiles. Now where men reject Christ today, this dividing wall of hostility still remains.

Very starkly you see it in Palestine today. But by the blood of Christ, Paul's Ephesian readers, just like us, have been brought near. But this is different from the grafting into Christ that Paul speaks of elsewhere. This is more than simply the Gentiles being brought into the same spiritual building as the Jews. This is a new structure, an entirely new structure. We'll see now that in the following verses, we'll see that now in the following verses, the purpose of redemption, the first second half of verse 15 through verse 22. I'll start with the first three verses. That he might create in himself one new man, in place of the two, so making peace, and he might reconcile us both to God in one body, through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.

And he came and he preached peace to you, who were far off, and peace to those who were near. God has done this to create one people of God, comprising Jews and Gentiles. There's no room for hostility in that same body even now. And now in Christ, there is one figurative body in place of the two Jewish and Gentile bodies.

So if the Jewish and Gentile damned and the Jewish and Gentile redeemed alike or on the same footing, and especially when Paul wants for his readers to consider that they were spiritually dead and were made alive and the way that they're saved is exactly the same way as the Jews were saved. Two dead people who were brought to life really ought not to have reason to be fighting. But the cross is an instrument of reconciliation. Jewish and Gentile Christians both come near to God only by their having been redeemed. At the cross, Christ bought us and paid for our sins, and that is the same for all believers alike. Verse 18 says, for through him, We both have access in one spirit to the Father.

I'm fond of remarking, especially my kids are around, that because one spirit indwells us all, you get a group of people like this, and people who otherwise don't have anything in common, can be closer knit than biological family in many cases, because one spirit indwells us all, and the spirit will never be at odds with himself. If one spirit brings near Jews and Gentiles alike, then there is reason for harmony and unity among them. When believers are united to God and empowered by the same spirit, then there will necessarily be no division among them. Now, it also has to be noted that this new building that Paul is speaking of is not just a remodeled job on the old one.

Verse 19, so then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built, not remodeled, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, and whom the whole structure being joined together grows into a holy temple in the Lord. And him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. This is a new structure. This is a new foundation, a new, and a common cornerstone. Of course that cornerstone is Christ. Cornerstone is laid in such a way as to lend strength to the two walls that are connected.

The cornerstone is Christ and the two connected walls are the Jews and the Gentiles. And it's an illustration. It does break down eventually, but it's a pretty good illustration. There's probably more than two walls in this temple, right? So if you got the Jews into everybody else's walls, then what other walls are there? But it's inspired. I didn't come up with it. But there's still walls. It's not as though the Jew wall was ground down into dust and then rebuilt with some Gentile pieces mixed in with it. They remain distinct parts of the same structure, but it's one structure.

And the deeper we drill, the really, the illustration does make sense. The macro effect then is that the nation of Israel and the Gentiles are brought together in Christ and they enjoy blessings that they never could have known before. And if they do retain some semblance of their same identity then it does follow necessarily and the rest of Scripture would support this too, that creating one new body does not mean that he's forgotten or changed his mind about the distinct promises he's made to the Jews in the New Covenant, which is in the Old Testament. He has created one new body without destroying either of the old ones.

It is one new united structure with walls that retain their uniqueness. But like the adoptive children that we are, our identity is determined not by how we were born but rather by who owns us, whose sons we are. the Ephesian Christians Paul was addressing, we belong to God because of the redemptive work of Christ. So I think if we're like the Ephesian readers, we would do well to remember these things and look to apply them. And thoughts have consequences. And theology has implications. There's no doubt that Paul was trying to shepherd these Ephesian believers from afar. He was pretty invested in that church personally.

He had spent a good deal of time there. And they, notwithstanding, they're still first generation believers and have a lot to learn. So he probably wanted for, there's a good reason why a lot of his letters are so instructive in terms of just information and then following up with application. Sure, he wanted them, he wanted to teach them theologically. And it still seems though, as though these thoughts are intended to have consequences and application. They are to be orienting thoughts. So how is it orienting? I'll finish by considering briefly just three ways that an examination of the principles of redemption here can be orienting. First, the doctrine of redemption humbles us.

Lest we be inclined to believe that we have done anything meriting salvation, Paul lays us in the dust with the teaching that we are spiritually dead apart from Christ and we are completely incapable of any righteousness. We owe our salvation wholly to God. And I would add, it's still under the same heading, that should make us grateful. Because truly humble people are going to be grateful, and grateful people are gonna be humbled. When we examine God, when we understand, we can fully fathom what we've been saved from, then that should result in our deep humility and gratefulness. The doctrine of redemption energizes our evangelism.

There's a purpose to everything that God does, and if God saves us, if God saves at all, when he does, then our job is to be faithful and to get the gospel out there. The outcome is His, and He has even laid out the good works for His sheep to walk in. The doctrine of redemption also helps us to understand God's purpose. As we've already established, there is a purpose to everything that God does. and our redemption is no exception. God has a purpose to showcase His glory in our salvation. So may that be orienting for us as well, as we go about our humdrum little lives. May we recognize that understanding our being made in God's image and our understanding that God is using us to showcase the immesible riches of his grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus is significant, and so we are important, but we serve a big, sovereign, and good God.

So let us be humble, thankful, energized of angelism, and understanding of God's purposes. Let's pray. Father, please increase our appetite for your word, that we may know it, and not just to know it, but then to love it. May we teach that to our little ones as well, not just knowing what we're supposed to do, but loving what you have said. That is a different thing altogether. Far too often we know the right thing to do, but we are not faithful to do it. We pray that that would change. And like Paul's readers, may we be oriented in our minds by the understanding that we were dead and you rescued us from that.

We pray that we would be patient with one another as there is a common spirit in dwelling assault, we'd be sensitive to His promptings, and if we do, then we're going to lead peaceful and quiet lives. But the world does not understand it, does not understand the peacefulness and the freedom that we enjoy. And so we pray that rather than being hostile, they would be inclined to want it as well. Use us for your purposes, and we pray this in Christ's name, amen.

Except for the very first Sunday that we worshipped together as a church, we have followed the same pattern of liturgy every Lord's Day morning service. The only thing that we did not do the first Sunday was celebrate communion. Otherwise, every morning service, whether in our living room, at the Lakewood facility, here in the MSDA building, and even the one Sunday out on the Weinbergs' old basketball court, we've used the same liturgy.

That's not to say that we have a complex liturgy, it's not to say that there's nothing that could be added or edited or tweaked, it's not to say that it's "high" (or “low”), but it is at least intentional and we've been consistent in it. It is also different than most of us were used to.

Most of us are from “the sermon is the most important part of the service” churches. Even these Sermon Saints are a diminishing group in our day. You can usually find them with their noses in a book with unpleasant typography, and probably not wading through the potpourri and Precious Moments figurines at the local Bible bookstore. These are mostly our kind of people. Yet the longer we've been worshipping with a liturgy that includes a sermon but does not worship the sermon, the more I'm thankful.

Sermon-as-dominating-liturgy teaches, without needing to say it (though many preachers will), that information is the most important thing about worship. The sermon is for venerating truth not for ventilating affections. Ironically, the way most liturgies prepare people’s “hearts” to listen for the truth is by...singing. But the Really Serious Christians, RSCs for short, recognize that songs are mostly filler, and probably heretical. If church is about truth, then get to it, man. Melody? Harmony? Multiple voices? What's that all about? Preach the word.

Of course there are the love people, often teetering on the edge of the opposite ditch from the truth people. They have affection for affections, and what kills affection, they often argue, more than an information dump? If worship is about the heart, then of course we need to sing, and if the lights are off that's probably better. These are also RSCs for short, Really Sing-y Christians. For them, sermons can't help but be boring. Exegesis? Outlines? One voice announcing things to the group? Don’t quench the Spirit.

These are extremes, but they are not exaggerations. They also miss the point of worship, which does demand love for God and is based on His truth but is aimed at our fellowship with the Father by the Spirit in the Son. Our liturgy should be true to that form.

What is that form? And where do we learn about it? The place to start is not actually in the New Testament, though we’ll consider that next Lord’s day. We start in the Old Testament with the sacrificial system of various offerings that God gave to His people so that they, by faith, could be in covenant relationship. God forgives and transforms and provides, they believe and obey and receive.

Before we consider how the sacrifices provide a pattern for our liturgy, remember that God has not revealed a one-and-only order of service anywhere in the Bible. While we appreciate what can be learned in the history of the church it is the Bible we are most concerned about, and the Bible is not strict about service sequence. There is, therefore, a measure of freedom for what local churches do and in what order they do it. The only bulletin inserts in our Bibles are ones we put in there, not ones that God did.

Also remember that God has revealed some explicit priorities for corporate meetings, not only in the example of the early church but also in His explicit instructions to church leaders such as Timothy and Titus. In particular, there is a heavy emphasis on the Word. Timothy was to be devoted to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, and to teaching (1 Timothy 4:13). Timothy was to "preach the Word, in season and out of season" (2 Timothy 4:2). Paul required attention on the instruction components, though he did not say that they alone should receive attention. The presence of the book of Psalms argues that praising God in song is also fitting.

Third, we always say something by what we do and how we do it. This is the liturgical opportunity, or more, the liturgical inevitability. It's not whether but which. It's not whether there will be liturgy, but which liturgy it will be. We can either be purposeful about our liturgy, or pretend that we aren’t. Again, we want our liturgy to be true to form. Our liturgy should embody all that Christ fulfilled for us.

In the Old Testament the Lord gave His people instructions for their corporate worship. He provided an order for their sacrifices intended to draw them near to Him in fellowship.

We have little appreciation for their sacrifices, except maybe as a reason to be thankful that we don't need to go through all of that anymore. Leviticus is a killer, not of animals as much as of our Bible reading motivation. Who can keep track of all the sacrifices, all the blood, all the mess? We thank God for Christ.

The reason we give thanks for Christ, though, is because He fulfilled what the OT sacrifices symbolized. That doesn't make them unimportant, that makes them paradigmatic. They are the pattern that Christ's offering fit perfectly.

Though we read about many different types of sacrifices under the Old Covenant, the main offerings can be summarized under three categories:

These sacrifices were sometimes offered by themselves, but when offered together they usually follow the same sequence. In other words, there is a predictable order of offerings as His assembled people drew near in worship.

All three categories are found in Leviticus 9. Aaron, his sons, and the elders inaugurated worship at the tabernacle, starting with these daily sacrifices. Moses instructed Aaron to offer sacrifices for his own sin first, and then for the people.

On the eighth day Moses called Aaron and his sons and the elders of Israel, and he said to Aaron, “Take for yourself a bull calf for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering, both without blemish, and offer them before the LORD. And say to the people of Israel, ‘Take a male goat for a sin offering, and a calf and a lamb, both a year old without blemish, for a burnt offering, and an ox and a ram for peace offerings, to sacrifice before the LORD, and a grain offering mixed with oil, for today the LORD will appear to you.’” (Leviticus 9:1–4)

Notice the sin offering, burnt offering, and peace offering (the grain offering is mentioned, but connected with the peace offering). Aaron offered the sin and burnt offerings for himself and his sons (verses 8-14) and then "he presented the people's offering" (verses 15-24).

The point of worship was to "draw near" to (Leviticus 9:7), to "meet" with (verse 23) God so that "the glory of the Lord may appear to you" (verse 6). But something stands in the way of that fellowship: sin.

When God covenants with men He deals with their sin. The penalty for sin is death, and priests slaughtered animals and threw blood on the altar to show that death had occurred. God called for confession and repentance from sinners as well as a substitute sacrifice represented in the guilt offering. The animal died instead of the sinner, and the sinner died symbolically in the animal.

"Aaron drew near to the altar and killed the calf of the of the sin offering, which was for himself" (verse 8) and then "he presented the people's offering and took the goat of the sin offering that was for the people and killed it and offered it as a sin offering, like the first one" (verse 15).

One of the reasons that Christ's offering is so significant is that He did not need to offer for Himself first and then for the people because He was perfect. He had no sin that needed forgiveness; all the rest of us do.

Once sin was covered, the sacrifice was cut up, or a second animal was killed and cut up, placed on top of the altar by the priest, and then burned in its entirety as a sign of total dedication.

Then he killed the burnt offering, and Aaron’s sons handed him the blood, and he threw it against the sides of the altar. And they handed the burnt offering to him, piece by piece, and the head, and he burned them on the altar. And he washed the entrails and the legs and burned them with the burnt offering on the altar. (Leviticus 9:12–14)

The fire burned the entire sacrifice and represented the complete consummation of the worshipper. The symbol was total consecration, whole devotion to the Lord. The smoke from the fire drifted up into the Lord's presence and this is why we read about some aromas pleasing the Lord. The meat was being cooked and consumed.

Just as the animal represented the guilty worshipper in the sin offering, so the animal represented the consecrated worshipper in the burnt offering.

Connected with the burnt offering was the grain (or Tribute) offering.

And he presented the burnt offering and offered it according to the rule. And he presented the grain offering, took a handful of it, and burned it on the altar, besides the burnt offering of the morning. (Leviticus 9:15–17)

The grain offering was a consecration of the fruit of one's work, a recognition of the Lord's provision. It was placed on top of the burning animal and connected with the consecration of the worshipper.

The third sacrifice in the liturgical sequence was the peace offering. Another animal was (or animals were) killed and then cooked on top of the altar, on top of the burnt offering.

Then he killed the ox and the ram, the sacrifice of peace offerings for the people. And Aaron’s sons handed him the blood, and he threw it against the sides of the altar. But the fat pieces of the ox and of the ram, the fat tail and that which covers the entrails and the kidneys and the long lobe of the liver— they put the fat pieces on the breasts, and he burned the fat pieces on the altar, but the breasts and the right thigh Aaron waved for a wave offering before the LORD, as Moses commanded. (Leviticus 9:18–21)

The difference between the burnt offering and the peace offering was the the burnt offering was consumed in flame, the peace offering was consumed as food. The burnt offering represented the worshipper's entire devotion to God, the peace offering represented the worshipper's communion with God. It was a shared meal, a sacrificial feast, between parties now at peace.

Verse 22 summarizes the whole service.

Then Aaron lifted up his hands toward the people and blessed them, and he came down from offering the sin offering and the burnt offering and the peace offerings. (Leviticus 9:22)

There are the three categories of offerings. Then observe what happened.

And Moses and Aaron went into the tent of meeting, and when they came out they blessed the people, and the glory of the LORD appeared to all the people. And fire came out from before the LORD and consumed the burnt offering and the pieces of fat on the altar, and when all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their faces. (Leviticus 9:23–24)

The worship brought God and His people together in meeting. The meeting brought God's blessing and they saw His glory revealed. As His people saw His glory they responded with more worship and honor of God.

Yes, the offerings in Leviticus 9 were for Israel's worship before Christ came. Christ has come and He fulfilled the whole sacrificial system. We don't have to go through those ceremonies, and that is completely true.

But knowing more about the OT sacrifices helps us know what Christ fulfilled. "The law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities" (Hebrews 10:1a). The "shadow" still outlines the shape. The shadows showed how to be forgiven, how to be wholly devoted to God, how to share communion with God. The realities are about drawing near to meet God in Christ.

For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. (Hebrews 10:1)

Christ makes all those things reality for those who worship God through Him.

For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said,

“Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired,

In His sacrifice, we are forgiven, our sin and guilt are taken away (verses 4, 18). In His sacrifice, we are sanctified, our lives are consecrated for His service (“For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified,” verse 14). In His sacrifice, we are drawn near to share peace and fellowship with Him.

Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. (Hebrews 10:19–22)

In our liturgy, after the call to worship, we confess our sins and remember His covenant to forgive those who confess because of Christ's sacrifice. Christ was crucified once, but each week we take hold of His sin offering by faith.

After our confession, most of our time is spent in consecration. We sing to Him. We hear His Word which exposes our necks to the knife (Hebrews 4:12-13). We offer our supplications because we depend on Him completely. We come before His Word. And we give our offerings in recognition of His provision. We ourselves are the offerings to God in His Son.

The next part of our liturgy is a meal of peace. We commune with God through the peace offering of Christ. We are forgiven by Him, devoted to Him, so now we fellowship with Him. This is a sacrifice of worship. Paul connects the shared meal of bread and wine with the peace offering shared by the Israelites around the altar (1 Corinthians 10:16-18).

Our worship isn’t intended to repeat Israel's sacrificial system. We aren't going back to live in the shadows. We are living in the realities won by Christ for us, and the pattern of our liturgy embodies all that Christ fulfilled for us. Not surprisingly, those realities have a similar shape to the shadows.

What do you do with this? What is your application? It is at least so that you will know what blessings to seek from God when we assemble for worship. Understanding truth is a blessing, it is not the end. Love for God is an end, but love must be understood in the context of relationship with God not just individualized feelings about Him. He is our Savior, our Master, our Father. The sermon and the singing have a place, but in order to be true to form of our relationship with God, we must come seeking the blessings of cleansing in Christ, consecration in Christ, and communion in Christ. We’re called to these blessings in worship and then charged to go with His blessings back to our work. The progression of our liturgy is not the only acceptable one, but it is a good one, and a potent one in Christ.

We are not the same. We who assemble together to worship the Lord week by week are being changed. "We all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another" (2 Corinthians 3:18). Our thoughts about God are different, our thoughts about His world are different, our expectations for and experience of relationships are different, even our understanding of gathering on the Lord's Day for corporate worship is different.

Almost a month ago at a Men to Men meeting we talked about a chapter on preaching. The author of the book we're reading wrote that the most important thing that happens during worship is the preaching of the Bible. Multiple guys wanted to talk about this. Multiple guys challenged, if not denied this. While all of those guys are guys who love the truth of the Word, the discussion itself gave evidence that we’re thinking differently about how truth comes to us than we did not that long ago.

Trinity Evangel Church has not existed that long. Our seventh anniversary as a church is just a couple weeks away, but we are different. Not everyone who started with us stayed, but everyone who stayed is no doubt very different, and I think you'd say that you are different for the better, not aged like a compost pile but like good wine in a whiskey barrel. There are a variety of agents and instruments that the Lord, by His Spirit and grace, has used to grow us. But one of the most potent ingredients, if not the one that affects all the others, is our worship together on the Lord's Day.

I believe this, and I believe that it is no accident. I believe that it is inevitable, and I believe that it is biblical. We become like who we behold. This is true positively, as I quoted from Paul a few minutes ago in 2 Corinthians 3. This is true negatively, as we heard in the call to worship from Psalm 115. Mute, deaf, senseless, idols cause those who worship them to have useless mouths, useless ears, useless hands.

Worshippers do more than, though not less than, gather truth. I have referred to this state as being a truth-tube. For those who love the Bible--may the Lord increase their tribe--but who relate to this principle impersonally, they also become what they worship. They become professional religious note-takers, worshipping the God of the Answer Key. They become professional religious lawyers, worshipping the God of Argument and Order. They become professional religious editors, worshipping the God of grammatically and theologically correct sentences.

But, while our God is truth, He is also the way Who shows where to go not just what to think. While He is righteousness, He is also grace that floods all our stuff. While He is the God who never lies, He is also the God who always loves, as the Father and Son and Spirit in eternal relationship created in an overflow of joyful fellowship so that mankind could know joyful fellowship with God and with other persons. This is our God and He is not bound in two-dimensions. Nor is He the ultimate taxidermist who lets us keep three dimensions but pins us to the wall. He is the living God! He makes men alive!

We are not the same. And as we worship the God of truth and holiness and justice and mercy and love and joy we are becoming more like Him. It may be slow; it is slow, but it is inevitable. It is happening whether we are aware of it or not, whether we see it week to week or not, whether it is stated explicitly on any given Sunday or during the service.

At the beginning of every new calendar year, which is close enough to a new year as the church body, I have purposed to talk explicitly about our corporate worship. This is for multiple reasons. First, while transformation by worship happens regardless of our awareness, it does, like most things, happen more effectively when we are aware of what’s going on. Second, most of us, including the ones who have been here from the start, did not come from churches with this sort of liturgy, and unlike our younger kids it is still not the most natural way of thinking for us, even though we’ve come to appreciate it. We need reminding. Third, we do have some new members, those who have started worshipping with us even within the last year, and unless you've gone back to listen to those previous messages, you may not know exactly why we follow the pattern that we do. Likewise, our kids listen at different levels at different times, and who knows what might get in this go-round. Fourth, and this builds on all the previous points, God calls all of us to worship, and every individual member in the body has responsibility to do so. You are not an audience, we are an assembly of worshippers, and we have a high calling and privilege and purpose.

So as my understanding of what we're doing seasons the skillet and as my increasing conviction about its importance turns up the heat, I'm glad to take some Sundays and (re)address the subject of corporate worship like a favorite meal made fresh. Lord willing I will preach four messages this time, covering the Old Testament pattern for our worship next week, the Gospel pattern the following week, and then a look at how singing in particular fits the following week. For the rest of this morning I want to address the issue of what our worship looks like to visitors.

Have you ever brought a visitor, or thought about doing so? This is not a campaign to increase our attendance, or to make you feel guilty for not inviting people. But to the extent that our liturgy is different from past experience, or different from other churches, or uncomfortable, or difficult to follow for a first (or third) timer, have you thought about how that makes the entry level seem fairly high? And, I know some of you have because you’ve brought it up before, have you wondered if that is a good thing?

At the beginning of the Kuyperian Dispensationalist series I identified that our church is mostly a mutt of influences; we are not a theological thoroughbred. That makes us difficult to describe to others at times. We actually should be able to explain what and why we do what we do, and be able to explain it without tortuous jargon like "Kuyperian Dispensationalist." And yet I'm not convinced that people don’t want what we have because that they don't understand it, but rather many people do not want what we have because they don't want to be exposed before God.

Isn't that what's happening at every point in the service for everyone here? As soon as I say, "Our help is in the name of the Lord," your readiness to worship is exposed. Ready or not, the Lord says “Come, worship Me.” Are you excited, grumpy, tired, distracted? Whether you listen carefully to the exhortation to confession or not, there are a painful 90ish seconds of quiet (how quiet depends on whether it’s sick season, or baby season, or sick-baby season) during which your conscience has no where else to go. Then there is the reading of the Word, which is like fire and a hammer (Jeremiah 23:29), or convicts that you don't care about it, then a time of supplication, which exposes that we are all incapable of handling all our problems. Then the sermon, if done correctly, is like a knife the slits the throat of the sacrificial lamb. This is precisely the point in Hebrews 4:12-13.

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

The word exposed translates a form of the Greek word trachelizo, connected to trachea. The Scripture is not dull, it slices the windpipe at the most vulnerable spot to kill and to consecrate the sacrifice. Psalm 19, which is a celebration of revelation, gets into the mediation of our hearts.

Then we have communion with God Himself and His people. People get sick, some die, from playing around with this according to 1 Corinthians 11. Communion is not some ritual that you can go through the motions and come away from unharmed. It exposes us. That is good. And the whole service of worship is evangelistic.

God wants the worship of the church to be by His sheep and not for the goats. Sunday services are not evangelistic by design, they call believers to worship. We meet as the church, Christ's body. But, that does not stop unbelievers from entering.

In one of the few passages in the New Testament that provides a glimpse into a corporate worship meeting, Paul shows that when God is really among a worshipping people, outsiders will not be comfortable, they are not supposed to be, they will be exposed before God.

But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or outsider enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all, the secrets of his heart are disclosed, and so, falling on his face, he will worship God and declare that God is really among you. (1 Corinthians 14:24-25)

These verses are in an extended section contrasting the effects of tongues and prophesy (chapter 14), which is actually part of an even larger section dealing with how members of the body are to love one another and build up the whole body rather than build up each part (chapters 11-14). Verses 24 and 25 come after Paul's explanation that tongues, even if used appropriately (which doesn’t seem to be a great concern for tongue-talkers today), are not best for understanding. That's what prophesy does better, in a language that is understood by all. Prophecy leads to upbuilding and encouragement and consolation (verse 3). But that’s not all.

It will be a while before we get to chapter 14 in our study through 1 Corinthians, and I won't take the time today to explain more about why prophesy was different at a time when the New Testament was not finished. What is key is that prophesy represents understanding of, and response to, God's revelation, and when that happens, the secret is out.

Verse 24 reveals the condition which requires two things: 1) group understanding as represented by all prophesying, and 2) an unbeliever or outsider enters. The service is not for unbelievers but they are not kept out either. When the condition is met, four things happen in rapid, overlapping sequence.

The result of believers worshipping God is repentance and new worshippers. It does not happen by focusing on the unbelievers but rather by focusing on God while unbelievers watch. And note that evangelism generates conviction, not comfort, or at least not comfort initially. Evangelism reveals the heart it doesn’t conceal it. This does not mean that the unbeliever starts spouting all of his secrets to the people in the church, but he might. He might be glad to get rid of the burden of pretense and lies. But he falls on his face to worship God. He is humbled before the holy God not embarrassed by social pressure.

This is the work of the all, of the congregation, of the assembly. Our worship gives evidence of the presence of God which is not the same as giving evidence of our intelligence. The unbeliever responds in no different way than the believer should already be responding, with conviction and accountability and humble worship.

While this is the work of the assembly, the assembly is made up of individual members, just as the singular "he" of the visitor. What if "he" looked at "you"? We are never the object of worship, God is the only proper object. But could an outsider recognize that God is present with you?

Worship is great exposure. By that I mean that we can't help but be exposed before God and we can't help but be transformed into His image as we do so. There is nothing better, that is what He made us to do from the beginning. If you don't want to be exposed, then you cannot grow. You cannot keep your secrets and get to see God.

Maybe we could say that there is a learning curve to our liturgy, but in another sense the entry level is quite low: just fall on your face. The more we understand about the God we worship, the less likely we can tweak the service to make anyone feel more cozy.

It is likewise exposing to hear men and women talk about how they don't want to open up in front of others. Again, Paul doesn't say that we must tell our deepest, darkest, nastiest secrets to one another. Mortification is a battle, and every sin is ugly, and some have more culturally ugly paint applied. But unbelievers are the duck and cover experts, and even they are called to account when in the presence of God. The secret is out.

Taking notes is easier than beholding God. Measuring righteous points, especially in comparison to those in the pew behind you, is much easier than beholding God. Objecting to the lyrics or the melody of a song is much easier than beholding God. When we’re assembled, what does it look like to others? A classroom? A choir? A support group? It ought to look like God is really among us.

Is this our own conclusion week by week? Do we enter with this mindset? Do we at least exit with it? What would happen if the secret got out in Marysville that God is really among us?

The man who keeps jumping up and missing a higher level gets a better view of the side of the cliff, even if just in the moments he falls past them, than the man who made the jump successfully and is standing on top. Seeing the standard, and seeking to reach the standard, yet failing to reach the standard, may help one to appreciate the glory of and the difficulty in the standard. Someone who is "there" already, someone who more naturally does a "thing," can't always explain it or value it.

A couch to 5k-er knows running differently than a Kenyan. A more introverted kid, who grew up as an only child, handles loud laughing and large group feasting differently. A short person thinks about the top shelf differently, and is more thankful for step stools than a tall person. And image-bearers get a serious kick in the pants with Christmas truth.

Christmas is revelation. When Jesus was born godliness was manifested in the flesh (1 Timothy 3:16). The Word became flesh and showed glory, “glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). “No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he (the Word) has made him (the Father) known” (John 1:18). Christmas reveals attributes of God, His love and initiation and even humility (see Philippians 2:7-8). Being laid in a manger is one thing, but the fulness of God in a body itself is a bigger deal.

But Christmas does more than reveal God. Christmas also reveals the “image of God.” We learn about God in Jesus, and we see the standard of what God made us to be in Him. The more we see Jesus the more we see that all of us fall short of the glory of God.

This morning I have to goals: 1) to exalt Christ’s incarnation as good news so that we would rejoice in Him, and 2) to examine Christ’s incarnation as the true pattern of image-bearing so that we would reflect Him.

Let’s rewind to the beginning of the tape. Adam was great, really glorious, made in the image and likeness of God. God gave Adam a wife to be responsible for, a garden to be responsible for, a promise of children to be responsible for, and a prohibition against eating certain fruit to be responsible for. He was given broad shoulders for a big task of loving his wife and stewarding his stuff and expanding his influence, to “fill the earth and subdue it.”

Then: sin. Adam did not fulfill his responsibility to protect his wife from the ancient dragon. Adam did not fulfill his responsibility to obey nor did he take responsibility for his disobedience. When God came to confront him he blamed Eve, and ultimately God for giving Eve to him.

The consequences of Adam’s irresponsibility continue to play out today. God cursed the ground so that man’s responsibilities would be more difficult, dirt with sweat and back-bending discomfort. God judged Eve not only with painfulness in child-bearing but also with a bent toward bossiness. Even internally, the power of sin corrupts desires and distorts reality so that we do not even know what we’re made for, let alone what to do it. Instead of fellowship we experience isolation and bitterness and hostility. Instead of meaningful work we have greed or laziness or frustration. We need redemption and yet we’re blind to that need and to the source of it.

Fast-forward the tape. Then: Bethlehem. Then: unto us a Son is given. Then: God with us. Then: the word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld His glory. Then: Christmas. Then: the Second Adam from above.

In Jesus we see the image of God that we were created to be. In Jesus all the world comes together.

A couple weeks ago Jonathan included a couple verses from “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” in his email to the music ministry group. After sharing the lyrics he wrote, “That sort of systematic theology put to a Christmas melody helps us to see that there are significant and clear reasons to celebrate Christmas.”

Absolutely. So what if we call it Christematic Theology? Systematic theology is an attempt to arrange and summarize biblical truths in a self-consistent whole. So we could say that Christematic theology aims to see the entire system of reality and revelation fixed together in Christ, and in some ways it starts with Christmas.

Christ is the “image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15). “In him the whole fulness of deity dwells bodily” (Colossians 2:9). “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature” (Hebrews 1:3). The good news is about the “glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (2 Corinthians 4:4).

And in all of those contexts Christ is at work, responsible for creation and for salvation.

In Colossians 1 He created all things and in Him all things hold together (Colossians 1:15, 17). So also in Hebrews, the Son is the heir of all things, the one through whom God created the world (Hebrews 1:2). Even now He “upholds the universe by the word of his power” (Hebrews 1:4). He keeps speaking and things keep existing. The planets spin and orbit, dogs bark, milk spills, whales spout, snow falls, stars shine, kids grow, all because of Christ. He is responsible for it all.

Likewise, all of salvation is His work. He was born in order to reconcile “all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of the cross” (Colossians 1:20). He was born to reconcile in His body of flesh by his death (Colossians 1:22). He was born to make purification for sins (Hebrews 1:3). He was born as the God-Man, the mediator between God and man (1 Timothy 2:5). He was born to be the righteous for the unrighteous (1 Peter 3:18). He was born to be the faithful husband laying down His life for His unlovely bride (Ephesians 5:25).

Christ was born for taking responsibility. This is amazing. I love the good news that Christ was born to die for all those the Father gave to Him. But like the doctrine of the Trinity, I thought this was great theology but not a pattern.

Then a few years ago I read N.D. Wilson’s book, Death by Living. The L2L leaders and wives and elders and wives are talking through it together this year at our Wednesday meetings. It it N.D. offers an inescapable picture of the image of God.

When Eve ate the forbidden fruit, what should Adam have done? There are at least a few options. He could have eaten it with her, joined her in disobedience in order to die with her. He could have distanced himself from her, expecting that God could make him another wife if He wanted, so she would die and he wouldn’t. Or, Adam could have done what he was created to do: die for her.

Adam would not have been the well-behaved Mormon teenager, abstaining from the fruit. He would have looked at Eve, seen her curse, seen her enemy, and gone after that serpent with pure and righteous wrath. He would have then turned to face the pure and righteous wrath of God Himself (that Adam had just imaged), and he would have said something quite simple, something that would be said by another, thousands of years later.

“Take me instead.”

Adam could have been conqueror rather than conquered. Regardless, fallen or unfilled, he was born to die. (Death by Living, 80)

This is what the Second Adam did. The Second Adam did not distance Himself from the rebels. He clothed Himself with frail humanity. He took on flesh and became like His brothers in every respect so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest (Hebrews 2:17). He sympathizes with our weaknesses, and has in every respect been tempted as we are, yet without sin (Hebrews 4:15).

The Savior was born to take responsibility for sin, for us. This is the image of God.

It is both truth to believe and an example to follow. The incarnation is a reason to rejoice as well as an archetype to reflect.

The apostle Paul clarified this question (in 1 Corinthians 15) when he spoke of the first and second Adam. He uses the name Adam in the sense of the head of a race, one who continues living as part of that entire race and corresponds to its type. (Kuyper, Pro Rege)

Adam was made in the image of God and he failed, not just to obey a rule but to reflect His maker. The Second Adam revealed the image of God in fulness, also not only in His perfect obedience but in His loving sacrifice.

What are we asking for when we sing verse 4 of “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”?

Adam’s likeness, Lord efface,

The work of the Second Adam is to restore the image of God, fallen in the first Adam. Which means that as the image of the Second Adam is stamped on us, as we are conformed more and more to the image of God in Christ, we will be taking responsibility for others. This includes their unlovely parts.

This includes how we celebrate Christmas. We ought to celebrate Christmas responsibly, by which I don’t mean soberly, not getting drunk. Don’t get drunk, yes, but that’s because there is more to do.

I understand that it is a vacation day for most, as in you don’t have to go in to the office or store or truck or wherever. But there is food to make and tables to set and kids to watch and relatives who are needy. It is good to rest, but God gives rest so that we can give ourselves for others. Our sacrifices don’t redeem others, but loving sacrifice for others is a significant part of living as the image of God.

When you get time, what do you do with it? When you have money, how do you spend it? When you are strong, who are you serving? I know some with ongoing health problems, chronic and debilitating pain in some cases. Whey they have a day of less pain, or when their meds kick in, they use it to spend on themselves. I’m thankful for the example of my wife who does the opposite. She spends herself on the kids or the school or some big project for someone else.

It’s quite difficult to fully embrace our personal responsibilities, let alone as those who are responsible for others. It is not everyone’s first instinct to run toward the fire. But this is Christmas. This is the incarnation of God to deal with our hostile disobedience. He didn’t watch us from heaven, He came to earth to spend Himself on our behalf.

As you grow in Christlikeness, you will see more clearly how short you fall of Christlikeness. You will jump, trying to reach the next level, and you will hit your shins on the hard edge. You will jump and grab onto the edge with your fingernails before slipping down.

But this is also part of the good news. Christ not only came to forgive us for failing, He promises His own strength for following in His steps. He promises grace to the weak. He exalts the humble. He imparts Himself to every believing heart.

When the house is messy and the kids are surly and the relatives are complian-y, when the presents aren’t wrapped yet and the car breaks down, when you’re tired and overwhelmed and you want to get away, remember Christmas. Celebrate Christmas responsibly as an image bearer.

Christ made us with the capacity for responsibility, and He took responsibility to save us and fill us to bear His image.

Come behold the wondrous mystery

The world is blinded from seeing this gospel, of salvation from death and of mankind’s purpose to give ourselves for others. It is no wonder their Christmases are so hollow and disappointing.

And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. (2 Corinthians 4:3–4)

We rejoice in the good news of salvation and we are being transformed reflect the Second Adam. May we be worn out as clay pots, showing that the surpassing power belongs to God, that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh. Merry Christmas, and celebrate Christmas responsibly.

Sometimes I can’t help myself. Sometimes I see a bear and I’ve got to poke it. This bear isn’t a momma bear, this is the single, frustrated, she bear who hates the #patriarchy in our day. At a base level patriarchy means that dads have the greatest responsibility in a society. Would that we had more patriarchy of the right kind. Men, fathers especially, should be owning the work to raise the next generation. It is a blessing when the Lord turns the hearts of fathers to their children (Malichi 4:6).

I get that such a lovely view of “patriarchy” is inconceivable and intolerable to many today, scare quotes or not. For some, patriarchy means (usually white) men holding, yay verily wielding, power over women, excluding women from positions in business or government or whatever group. But I want to insist that we need the patriarchy and we ought to follow the patriarchy, at least as the patriarchy follows the ways of Christ.

God made fathers. God Himself reveals Himself as a Father, a Father to His own Son and a Father to us as His adopted children. Fathers on earth image God, at best in limited ways, at worst in distorted ways. But the answer to flawed fatherhood is not to get rid of fathers, it’s for fathers to act faithfully, which spreads blessings (to women and children) rather than hoards them.

The apostle Paul saw himself as a spiritual father to the Corinthians. It’s not merely that he self-identified as a father, he was, by God’s grace, their father in the faith. God birthed the Corinthian congregation through Paul’s faithful work. And now the father expected his children to grow up and act like him, which they weren’t doing, including the ones who were claiming to be in Paul’s special group (1:12; 3:4). They were not acting like they should, not following Paul’s ways, not living in light of the word of the cross. Like a loving father, Paul warns them about their behavior and commands them to imitate him. Follow the patriarchy in the ways of a crucified Christ. In other words, follow the patriarchy to death.

We’re going to finish 1 Corinthians 4 this morning and then we’ll take a break for a Christmas message next Lord’s day and then a series on worship for the following two to four Sundays. When we come back to our study of this letter, we’ll come back with a bang in chapter 5. For now, Paul warns his beloved children how to avoid an apostolic spanking.

They’ve been having some problems. They’ve been fighting with each other for position. They’ve been seeking status from the unbelievers around them. They thought they were wise when they were really acting like “infants in Christ.” They were judging their preachers based on unsound, unspiritual standards. They believed the gospel, but they weren’t living in light of it. Paul cares for them like a father and commands them to imitate his cruciform lifestyle.

In the previous paragraph he said some sharp things and cut with a sarcasm scalpel. In verse 14 he explains his motivation. ** I do not write these things to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children.** The reason he wrote what he did, in the mocking way he did, was not to break them down just to make himself feel better. He didn’t want them to be humiliated, but he did want them to be humbled and humble. He certainly wanted them to recognize their foolishness and stop it, but it wasn’t hurt for hurt’s sake. So he wrote to admonish, to “warn” (NIV), one of Paul’s go-to shepherding words. He put to mind the truth and power of the gospel in order to get his beloved children to turn course.

Verse 15 expands on their relationship. For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel. Paul contrasts two kinds of responsibilities: that of a “guide” and that of a “father.” The guide or “tutor” (NAS), “guardian” (NIV), “instructor” (KJV) was “usually a slave, whose duty it was to conduct a boy or youth to and from school and to superintend his conduct generally” (BAGD). “Quintilian (Institutio oratoria. 1.1.8) complains about the paedagogi who have gone a little beyond the alphabet and falsely persuade themselves that they are knowledgeable,” Garland).

The Corinthian congregation had plenty, countless, “thousands” of these sorts. What they didn’t have were many fathers. You really only need one father, but this makes the illustration more remarkable. You can have more than one spiritual father who cares. Paul had a special relationship with them as the one who planted the seed (3:6), who laid the foundation (3:10). But you don’t have to be the first to be this kind of father. You do have to love those you’re responsible for. Calvin contrasted fathers to “those who, while agreeing with us in doctrine, employ themselves in taking care of their own affairs, rather than those of Christ” Calvin). Serving self is not fatherly.

As their father Paul was in the position to make a requirement. I urge you, then, be imitators of me. He began in 1:10 with “I appeal to you,” but it’s the same Greek word (Παρακαλῶ) as here in 4:16. He is not suggesting, he is commanding, and doing so with authority. They were behaving like fools. They were behaving like unbelievers. They were behaving like unthankful and bratty little kids. They were not behaving like their father.

I wish it could go without saying, but this is not proud on Paul’s part, at least not by default. Is it true that only men who are full of themselves could say “Follow me”? Isn’t it actually the opposite? He’s been telling his children to live in light of the gospel. He’s been poking at their inflated pride. If he couldn’t tell them to act like him—in humility—then that would mean he was acting like them, and that would make him a hypocrite.

Verse 17 confirms that Paul’s strategy was personal. That is why I sent you Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach them everywhere in every church. He wasn’t able to come at the moment. He was writing a letter to them, and such communication has it’s place. But when it comes to fatherhood writing may supplement but it shouldn’t supplant presence.

He sent Timothy, who hadn’t arrived yet according to 1 Corinthians 16:10, so he couldn’t have been the one delivering the letter. But Timothy would arrive and remind them of Paul’s ways in Christ. They knew the ways, but they had forgotten them, which is a significant sin in God’s eyes. There is a path to follow, and Paul has been following the path of dying to bring life to others. This is the way of a crucified Christ. That’s what he wants them to follow. Follow the patriarchy to death.

And this dying like Christ is what he taught everywhere in every church. There are certainly unique opportunities and decisions in different locations, but there are some principles that transcend particular places. While each local church has responsibility to believe and obey, there are some ways that are catholic, as in, universal. So Paul urges them to follow his ways to dying.

As a father he had interest in them, so he’s planning to visit. He knows their situation and will test their supposedly “superior” status in person. These verses also begin the transition to some serious fails among the Corinthians in the following chapters concerning their sexual and business relationships.

Before he gets more specific he tells them his plan in verses 18-19. Some are arrogant, as though I were not coming to you. But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I will find out not the talk of these arrogant people but their power. Kids get arrogant, puffed up when they think dad is gone and can’t see what they’re doing. But Paul has been planning to come and see them, and he’s still hoping to do so if the Lord wills. God determines what gets done; we should always see that banner above our calendars and todo lists.

Paul’s trip will not be for pleasure, it will be for parenting. He will be testing their claims, and he doesn’t expect good scores. They’ve been impressed with rhetoric. They’ve been seeking speaking gifts. They’ve compromised in order to win worldly approval. And it shows in their lives. In chapter five Paul confronts their sexual immorality especially in terms of tolerating incest, in chapter six he confronts their greed and lawsuits as well as their view (and use) of prostitution. Always remember, Your talk talks and your walk talks but your walk talks a whole lot louder than your talk talks. Faith works. Following Christ is a confessional and behavioral commitment.

Verse 20 summarizes the principle. For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power. This is the key verse in the paragraph.

The Corinthians definitely overestimated the value of talk, but didn’t they also value power? Hasn’t Paul been contrasting worldly power with gospel weakness? They wanted power, they imagined themselves as reigning kings. And they didn’t appreciate Paul and the other preachers as servants, as manual laborers, as the scum of the earth. How can Paul say that the kingdom of God consists in power, presumably power that he was demonstrating?

It’s because God shows His power in our weakness, and it takes true power to spend your life for others. With His divine power God took the form of a servant and took His place on the cross. Christmas and Good Friday are power. Humility is power. Obedience is power. Holiness is power. Dependence on God rather than self is power. Serving others rather than status is power. Power is on display to the world, to angels, and to men (verse 9), but it a surprising power. All the Corinthians had was cheap talk, Paul wanted them to follow his ways of power.

He finishes the paragraph in verse 21 with one of those “did you really need to ask?” questions. What do you wish? Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love in a spirit of gentleness? I remember as a kid hearing this kind of question. “Do you want to get a spanking?” At school it was, “Do you want to go to the principal’s office?” “Why, yes! Of course I do!” It’s almost an exasperated question. To get to this point is to get to a not good point.

A rod is a stick for beating, an instrument familiar to faithful fathers in Proverbs (see 22:15; 23:13-14). As it’s been said, no one cares how much you know until they know how large your paddle is. He’s offering a fatherly, apostolic spanking. Is that what they want? Or do they want him to come already in fellowship? It’s not that discipline isn’t loving; too many proverbs say it’s loving not to discipline a son, as does the author of Hebrews. But the choice is theirs. Either they will humble themselves or he will come and humble them. “Come on, guys, get your stuff together.”

The imagery of fatherhood is a central piece to this paragraph. The answer to bad fathering is not getting rid of fathers, it’s fathers acting like they should. We need to get rid of pride, not patriarchs. Ironically, many of those complaining about fathers are themselves proud. The fix won’t happen by putting another proud group on top. The tyranny of fussiness is not a better rule for society’s sake.

Who would we rather listen to? Fathers don’t always act as they should, but would it be better to have to follow the Emperor? The State? A judge? No one? Doesn’t that just become everyone? The women, and the men who are too afraid to contradict those women, offer nothing better.

The image of fathering and spiritual fathering confronts those who seek their own interests, including those who speak truth but don’t do so for sake of their relationship with the people. It also applies to more than apostles and preachers, since Paul urges them all to imitate him. Then we ought to follow the patriarchy, we ought to follow these sorts of fathers to death. That’s where the power is.

Every sermon comes to an end…eventually. So does every letter, and each point in a letter. The apostle Paul is closing in on his final point concerning the quarreling among the brothers in Corinth (1:10). In 1 Corinthians 4:6-13 he’s not requesting permission to land, he’s coming in hard.

He has not yet asked them anything so rhetorically pointed as he does in verse 7. He has not bitten with such sharp sarcasm as he does in verse 8 or mocked with such dramatic irony as in verses 9-10. The Corinthians were acting like kings while Paul and the other apostles and preachers were considered to be scum.

By the end of this paragraph—and verses 6-13 are one long paragraph in the Greek New Testament, though divided into two in the ESV (verses 6-7 and verses 8-13)—Paul says that God has put His apostles on display as garbage. We’ll see that this “spectacle to the world” is connected to the “scum of the world and the refuse of all things.” Refuse is trash, waste, rubbish. The Corinthians, and the world of angels and men, have a front row seat to Rubbish Theater.

This paragraph asks some heart-humbling questions and frames some heart-humbling contrasts. Both by his teaching and by his example Paul pricks their pride.

Having clarified how preachers should be evaluated—as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God (4:1-2), and having warned them of the difficulty in making evaluations—since God alone is the ultimate, inerrant judge (verses 3-5), Paul takes a step up in the overall discussion. He explains what he’s been trying to do, and he’s direct.

I have applied all these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, brothers, that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against another.

In saying that he applied all these things to himself and Apollos he makes it clear that he and Apollos weren’t competing with one another for Corinthian loyalties. They weren’t rivals. They weren’t the ones using manipulative rhetoric or man-centered methods to increase their own followings. Both Paul and Apollos, along with Cephas/Peter and other preachers, were fellow-workers (3:9), servants assigned by God and accountable to God. But even though they were servants, they were still some of the Big Names to the Corinthians. And if the Star Preachers weren’t battling for brand supremacy, then none of the brothers should be.

Now he comes to the first purpose: that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written. What does he mean by what is written? The first three chapters? A church constitution in Corinth? Every other time Paul uses the phrase he’s referring to the Old Testament. And since the beginning of this letter he’s quoted six OT passages for sake of his argument (five of which are introduced with the phrase “is written”).

He’s been teaching them the Bible. He’s also been modeling the Bible; the Corinthians could learn by us. Like Ezra who had set his heart to study the Law of the LORD and to do it and to teach His statutes, so did Paul and his ministry partners.

And what was the purpose of his pattern and his use of these Scripture passages? that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against another. They were supposed to boast in the Lord (1:31) and not in men (3:21). To be puffed up is to have an exaggerated self-conception, to think you’re hot snot, big britches-eted, to be distended with your own importance. The sky is only big enough for so many hot air balloons, so inevitably there is a huffing and puffing fight for position. But these campaigns are not appropriate.

Such maneuvering doesn’t hold up against the strong wind of God’s providence. Three questions require no other reply than repentance from pride. For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it? The NASB begins with, “Who regards you as superior?” These questions could be read with a positive tone or a negative one. If the tone from the previous paragraph spills over, it’s probably more positive. If the tone here is ramping up for the next paragraph, it’s not positive.

Either way, the Corinthians shared the common ground of Trinitarian Monotheism. They had repented from a worldview with many gods (Polytheism); no god was fully sovereign so god could be the giver as verse 7 implies. The Corinthians had not been instructed by 19th century German theologians, so they did not know enough to believe in the great Watchmaker in the Sky who had left His creation to fend for itself (Deism). No, they believed in God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. They believed in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth. They were incipient Calvinists before Calvin was born, and the argument from providential reality was air tight. In other words, who died and made you so special?

[T]here is no man that has anything of excellency from himself; therefore the man that extols himself is a fool and an idiot. (Calvin)

Important note: this does not mean that everyone has the same thing or things or the same of amount of said thing(s). God is not egalitarian, Himself a slave to the greater god, Equality. But whatever a man has, a lot of this and that, or a lot of this and not much that, or just this little, he got it from God, just like his neighbor got what he got from God. We are all derivatives and dependents, having value and things of value because of God’s sovereign generosity.

Taking the purpose of not going beyond what is written with the purpose of not being puffed up with the rhetorical questions means means that the point of the (whole) Old Testament could be summarized: treat one another like all of you have received everything you have from God. This is everything, and no quarter must be given to ungratefulness, envy, or conflict. Everything also means our salvation and spiritual giftedness, and these are not common grace gifts they are particular grace gifts purchased by a crucified Christ.

What kind of invitation are we waiting for to be humbled?

They had no business acting superior to one another, and sometimes the preacher ends the sermon without naming the toes he stepped on (“This little piggy was prideful”). Paul, however, is not done.

While I wouldn’t say that too many of us are super sensitive, I will make the warning that we’re about ready to walk through hip-deep levels of irony, hyperbole, and sarcasm. If you’re the kind of person who thinks Christians shouldn’t talk like that, first, you probably aren’t a member since those are the only parts of speech I know. And second, you’ll have a hard time explaining what Paul’s doing here.

Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! Without us you have become kings! Paul is landing his point without even a tap on the brakes. They have received all they’ve received from God and they’re acting as if they’ve been crowned, which is a result of their royal imagination. Every (true) discipler wants his disciples to go beyond him, but this is ridiculous. Like, really? “Who died and made you kings?” Paul wishes it was true. And would that you did reign, so that we might share the rule with you! “Oh, it will be so much easier now that you guys are in charge of everything!” As it turns out, it’s not true. It’s also out of tune with the Christian life as exhibited by the apostles.

For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, like men sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men. The image fits with the Roman triumph parade. The generals and soldiers and spoil go first in the train, followed by the prisoners who would be led into the amphitheater to face the lions. The captives were the entertainment, the spectacle, from the Greek word θέατρον (theatron). Paul’s not saying that he’s in an actual arena but that the metaphorical cosmic theater seats are filled with sentient beings watching the show. And he’s no star.

He’s also no martyr diva. He knows who the Producer and Director of the show is God.

Next he makes three abrupt comparisons. We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute. These are the same categories he’s been using from the beginning of his letter. The world wants the honor of being seen as strong and wise. The Christian wants the honor of Christ, who is true strength and true wisdom, but not as recognized by the world. The Corinthians had compromised with the culture and considered themselves to be a cut above.

But that is not the way of Christ or His representatives. Verse 11 is Paul’s “catalogue of afflictions,” a “catalog of cold facts” (Lenski). To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless. Even up to that moment Paul had not collected a pile of worldly assets. He regularly lacked resources on his missionary journeys, scanty food and shabby clothes. He was buffeted, knocked around, treated rough. He looked like a homeless person, because he often was. In addition to minimal possessions he said we labor, working with our own hands. This sort of employment was considered to be the worst.

Yet his attitude was different. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we entreat. This is Christian. This is supernatural. Jesus taught and modeled that any man can love someone who loves him. Love your enemy, now that’s something. This is your blessed life now, as in, bringing blessing to others by your surprisingly positive (to them) responses. Keep going when others lie about you instead of being agitated about it and complaining about the complainers. When things get hard, don’t get away. “Perseverance is an unspectacular but essential Christian virtue” (Ciampa & Rosner).

The final sentence of the paragraph is the low point. We have become, and are still, like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things. Scum translates a word that refers to cleaning all around, to clean on all sides, as you’d do with a dirty bowl. You have to scrub at the residue, maybe pick at the stuck-on parts with your fingernail. There’s nothing you want to keep, you’re just trying to get rid of it.

Refuse is a synonym, from a word that also refers to the results of scrubbing or sweeping. It’s the used coffee grounds that have been smeared under the garbage can for a couple weeks. It’s the pile of wood shavings or the pet hair caught in a corner of the room. It’s the good for nothing stuff that got stuck on the bottom of your shoe.

What’s very interesting is that both of these words were used to describe a sort of person. Both of them referred to the scum of society, and often, in certain places even annually, the scum became sacrificial scapegoats. Some ancient writers refer to a ritual of human sacrifice in order to cleanse a city or stop a plague. In a crisis, the ties of relationships are broken and people don’t blame themselves; the scapegoat took the blame, bore the wrath on behalf of others. These sacrificial victims were taken from those who didn’t have anything left to offer society.

As if the Apostle had said—We are as despicable and as odious in the sight of the people, as much loaded with the revilings and cursings of the multitude, as those condemned persons who were offered up by way of public expiation. (Budæus quoted by Calvin)

The word Greek word for “scum” is used in the Greek translation of Proverbs 21:18 in just this way.

The wicked is a ransom (the scum) for the righteous,

Paul wasn’t a scapegoat, but he and the apostles were treated like they were the scum. No social strata was lower. Paul was as valuable as rubbish, and the rubbish was on display for the world to watch. This is Rubbish Theater.

How the Christians in Corinth wanted to be treated in the world affected how they treated one another. Demand for esteem cannot be sealed off by location; those who demand it in the church will compromise to get it in the world, those who demand it in the world will expect it in the church.

But the point of what “is written,” the point of the Book we love so much, is to recognize that we do not have anything that we have not received. All is gift, including our place on stage in Rubbish Theater. When the world mocks us for acting superior, that is either to be expected because they don’t share our standards, or it is deserved because we are living up to ours.

He has told you, O man, what is good;

A treadmill is a lot like the law. A treadmill lays out the direction and sets the pace. A treadmill requires constant attention and demands that each step land in the right place. You must keep up to speed. And like obeying the law, you don’t really get anywhere, but you can at least keep from getting hurt.

Some people think about a treadmill like hell. To the degree it is like the law, it certainly doesn’t feel like life.

I remember when I first started to study Romans 7 which is all about the Christian and the law. I read not tens, but hundreds of pages trying to figure out both halves of the chapter and how they were related. I remember coming across the illustration of the performance treadmill and the relentless pressure to meet the demands of the churning belt.

The law, and the relationship of Jews and Gentiles and Christ and faith to it, was (and is) an inescapable issue. God is good with that. He’s the one who gave the law; it’s His, and it’s good (Romans 7:12). He’s also the one who sent His Son to fulfill it, and He’s the one who saves men apart from it. But working out how it’s all connected has been causing conflict since the first century. It certainly caused conflict in the churches of Galatia.

This epistle addresses the self-righteousness that (attempts to) nullify the grace of God. Self-righteousness as attained by the law means Christ died for no purpose. But this is not reality, it is certainly not the gospel, and it is something Paul could not stand for. The truth of the gospel was at stake. The phrase “the truth of the gospel” is used in verse 5 and verse 14. Paul contended for it, confronted over it, and clarified what he meant by it. He could not let it be lost or twisted.

In chapter 1 Paul began to defend his preaching and ministry as one called and instructed by God directly. His apostolic credentials were being questioned, so he provided testimony about how he received his gospel (1:11-24), and now he relates that his gospel was tested and affirmed by the other apostles in Jerusalem (2:1-10), acknowledged by Peter in Antioch (2:11-14), and then he defined it explicitly (2:15-21).

In his testimony, after fourteen years probably refers back to his conversion around AD 33, making this visit to the capital around AD 45-47. He was saved on the road to Damascus, went into Arabia then back to Damascus (1:17), visited Peter in Jerusalem three years later (1:18), then went into Syria and Cilicia (1:21). Now Paul says I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas and Titus. I think this visit was prior to the Jerusalem Council mentioned in Acts 15, the Council that made official decision on what to expect of Gentiles.

Barnabas was known by the Galatians; he had helped introduce Saul/Paul to the Christians in Jerusalem (Acts 9:27) and was part of Paul’s first missionary journey, inviting Paul to join his work in Antioch for an entire year (Acts 11:22-26). Titus, being a Greek, becomes important in a moment. The reason Paul went went up with these men was because of a revelation; in other words, God told him to go, it wasn’t because the other apostles subpoenaed him. And what he accomplished was receiving official recognition that he was preaching the gospel.

In verse 2 he spoke with those who seemed influential. In verse 6 it is those who seemed to be something. In verse 9 they are named, James and Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars (in Latin: qui videbantur columnæesse) in the church. It’s all the same group, portrayed from the perspective of their overly eager followers. Paul is acknowledging that God put these men into position of influence without conceding that his apostolic work depended on their approval. Paul didn’t need them; he didn’t receive his gospel or his call from them, and at the same time he is unified with them.

What he wanted was to be seen as working together. This is the not running…in vain piece. True gospel work is never in vain, but an unnecessary split was worth work to avoid.

The gospel message was one thing, but first Paul remarks, even Titus, who was with me, was not forced to be circumcised, though he was a Greek. In the central city of Judaism Titus was not forced to run the Jewish treadmill initiation ceremony. “In fact, it is possible that Paul brought Titus along to Jerusalem precisely for the purpose of forcing the issue” (Moo). This is actually a critical gospel question. Was anything else required than to believe in Christ?

It was apparently not without argument. Yet because of false brothers secretly brought in who slipped in to spy out our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might bring us into slavery. Resistance was required at this precise point. If circumcision was required, then the gospel wasn’t enough. Paul didn’t back down for one minute. To them we did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you. The truth of freedom would have been lost, at least partially, not by denying Christ but adding to Him. The truth of the gospel was threatened by extra requirements.

Verses 6-10 are one sentence in Greek, all to the point of consensus and partnership in the spread of the gospel. So the pillars saw (Paul) had been entrusted with the gospel, they recognized what was there already, they didn’t make it true. And they endorsed Paul’s unique commission to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised. Paul served the Gentiles primarily, Peter to the Jews primarily, though both did work in both groups (as a footnote, John Calvin poked that Rome’s claim to the Pope’s primacy as Peter’s successor ought to be limited to Catholic Jews). The pillars corroborated the grace given to Paul and his ministry and gave him the right hand of fellowship. The only thing they specifically qualified was to remember the poor, which Paul said was the very thing I was eager to do. Note: according to the apostles, caring for a man’s temporal needs must not necessarily be incompatible with caring for his eternal needs.

Some time after Paul’s visit to Jerusalem he was in Antioch, the home base for his missions operations. Peter came, one of the pillars, and there was a significant gospel problem, not in words but in practice. When Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him face-to-face because he stood condemned. Paul directly and publicly confronted Peter. He called him out to his face. Why? For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. That’s some party.

We don’t know who the men…from James were exactly. Were they his official representatives? Were they merely claiming to represent James? Regardless, they got Peter’s attention and he changed his behavior. He started to act as if the Gentile Christians could contaminate him. There were Jewish laws against Jews intermingling with non-Jews. But not only did Christ change that, Peter himself had been acting differently. He was eating with them and now he drew back. There had been relationship, now there was reluctance.

Paul has nothing good to say about it. And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. It wasn’t a denial of Christ in proposition but in practice. “[T]he difference is not fundamentally over theology but over the implications for a specific form of conduct that arises from theology” (Moo). Did the Gentiles need Christ and eating only certain foods to be acceptable? Did certain days make them more approved to Jews? Wasn’t Christ enough?

When I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel he confronted Peter. Again, the truth of the gospel is at stake. Some of their behavior was not in step, not “straightforward” (NAS), from orthopodeō, to take straight steps. Peter’s conduct was crooked. He was out of line with the truth of the gospel. He was pressured and Paul was setting him straight. This was before the Council in Jerusalem formally declared what was required of Gentile believers (Acts 15), but how could Peter add law to the Gentiles believers?

Paul had expressed concern that they were deserting God and turning to that which really is no gospel (1:6-7). He’s given testimony to God’s direct revelation to him of the gospel and how it had been threatened in Jerusalem and in Antioch. Is there any room for self-righteousness? Are there good works of the law necessary to be added to faith in Christ? Starting in 2:15 Paul defines the truth of the gospel he’s been defending in practice and introduces themes that will carry this letter to a close.

See the key words in this paragraph that make the truth of the gospel clear (from Douglas Moo):

He may be continuing on from verse 14 and his confrontation of Peter. The ESV at least closes the quotation marks after verse 14, but the two paragraphs are related. Whether or not Paul said these exact words to Peter, they are what he was thinking about.

We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners meaning that they as Jews had God’s election as a people, but that wasn’t enough to save their souls. Yet we know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ. There can be no synthesis; works and faith are antithetical. Even the religiously advantaged needed to believe in Christ. If they couldn’t be justified by good things they had, like the law and circumcision, but had to look to Christ, how much less should they make Gentiles submit to other things? None of those other things could justify them. We also have believed in Christ Jesus in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law because by works of the law no one will ever be justified. This is gospel truth. This is freedom from the burden of the performance treadmill that no only could successfully run anyway.

So think about it…even Jews need to be humbled. They are not better off than the Gentiles. The law pointed out that they were sinners, and the law could not save them. They actually needed to look away from the law to Jesus. Did that make Jesus a servant of sin? Certainly not!

Next is a central argument how about sinners get transformed. It is not through the law. The law increases sin, it does not diminish or defeat sin. The law does point out what obedience would be, and promptly points out that we are not obedient to it. Seeing the standard never enables a man to meet (or love) the standard. Something else must happen so that [we] might live to God.

To live to God, sometimes means to regulate our life according to his will, so as to study nothing else in our whole life but to gain his approbation; but here it means to live, if we may be allowed the expression, the life of God. (Calvin)

We are united with Christ by faith to be different persons. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. The spiritual reality is that the demands of the law have been met. We owe the law nothing else. We are dead to it; it can’t touch us. We do not get saved in order to now obey the law for credit. And the life I now life in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. The cross killed our selfish selves, our sinful selves, our self-righteous selves. And now we have spiritual life in our physical lives.

So I do not nullify the grace of God, for if justification were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose. If we could accomplish perfect obedience then we wouldn’t need anyone else. Nullification of grace can’t really happen, but sometimes we can act in a way that says we don’t need grace.

It is possible to get crooked when it comes to walking out the implications of the truth of the gospel. It may get crooked in how we treat one another, in how we look down on someone or disassociate with someone who doesn’t meet some righteous standard, even one we’ve read in the Bible. It is possible even to get crooked in our own minds, either in how we evaluate our righteousness or how we respond to temptation. Are we “being perfected in the flesh” (3:3)? Or are we living in union with Jesus?

We have to renounce justification by works. We are justified by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. We who believe were crucified with Christ. We have been undone and unmade, thank God, then remade, thank God!

If the death of Christ be our redemption, then we were captives; if it be satisfaction, we were debtors; if it be atonement, we were guilty; if it be cleansing, we were unclean. (Calvin)

Sin is too violent and dominating for any ceremony to overcome. Thank God for the truth of the gospel, of salvation through our crucifixion and resurrection with Christ.

There are a lot of preachers in the world. Maybe the percentage of preachers in the general population isn’t that high, but even in our neck of the liberal woods, there are numerous churches, Christian congregations, and there’s usually at least one preacher in each place. How do you know what makes a good one? Who’s job is it to decide? Is there a website of preacher ratings?

Even the first-generation Christian congregation in Corinth had a wealth of preachers. Though they had started to fight about their favorite, Paul told them: “all are yours.” The believers were God’s temple (3:16), and building a temple usually took hundreds of workers over many years. Paul, Apollos, and Peter were just three of the men who preached a crucified Christ. They built with gold, silver, and precious stones. The Corinthians didn’t need to narrow down who they listened to, they could learn from all of the men who truly preached the gospel.

Listening and learning is good, receiving in thanks is good, but boasting in men was, and still is, prohibited (3:21). The reason, as I said, was because they had been given possession of all the (qualified) preachers.

But which ones were qualified? That is the question Paul answers in 1 Corinthians 4:1-5. There are standards for evaluating preachers that keep us from putting them too high or too low. Here are three aspects of evaluating gospel preachers.

Paul already referred to himself and the other preachers as “servants” (3:5) and “fellow-workers” (3:9). Now he adds a couple different but related words and shapes the Corinthians mindset about their ministers. This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. In other words, think about us in these terms, regard or reckon or add up the numbers like this. Make an evaluation of us according to these categories.

Servants (ὑπηρέτης) is a word that meant assistant, with an emphasis on not being the boss. It’s different from doulos, “slave,” but it still doesn’t include liberty to do whatever one wanted. A servant is a subordinate, one who does the will of the master, who in this case is Christ. Stewards (οἰκονόμους) is a great word that often described a servant who managed a household. Joseph worked himself into this sort of position at least twice in Egypt. A steward had responsibility for a variety of tasks (“purchasing, accounts, resource allocation, collection of debts, and general running of the establishment,” Thiselton) but still on behalf of someone else.

Titles such as reverend (as in a person worthy to be revered), cardinal (from “hinge” so a pivotal character), father/pope, are not what Paul had in mind.

In Paul’s case, and in the case of very preacher, he was a steward of the mysteries of God. It could be the word he already used in 2:1, “I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the mystery of God with lofty speech or wisdom.” The mystery was the “secret and hidden wisdom of God” that “none of the rulers of this age understood” (2:7-8). So the mysteries of God are the gospel truths of the glory of a crucified Christ. The mysteries of God are the gospel truths of a world-rejected and yet world-conquering wisdom that reveals the depths of God (2:10). The mysteries of God are the spiritual, and Spirit-revealed and Spirit-discerned truths that demonstrate the power of God.

These are precious truths, like a treasure (see 2 Corinthians 4:7) that God entrusts to men to pass on to others. The steward must answer for what he did with these grand, eternal mysteries. Did he undersell them? Did he feel the need to make them more palatable to the current age? Did he seek man’s admiration more than his master’s approval? A preacher is not stewarding his appearance or reputation, a preacher is stewarding the Fort Knox of theology.

What do you think a preacher should do? What makes him appealing? Though he may have a variety of tasks to perform minute by minute, like an estate manager checking on orders, he must be acting on behalf of God’s gospel in it all.

Verse 2 adds more about evaluation, namely, the one quality that is indispensable (hence criterion rather than the plural, criteria). What he must have is not rhetorical eloquence, certainly not as the world judges it (see 1 Corinthians 2:1-5). It is not personal charisma and magnetism. It’s not that he’s necessarily easy to listen to or easy to get along with. “A master does not want a glib talker for a steward, and neither does God” (Garland).

In gospel ministry, the performance review isn’t very long. Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful. Stewards have one job; they must be faithful (which would be another good translation of πιστός). Some may have more experience than others, some may have more skill than others, but experience and skill by themselves could be used to better cheat the master. The all important question is: is the steward obedient and loyal to the master?

It’s usually at this point that most of the preachers I would and have listened to point out that the criterion of evaluation is being faithful not successful. And, of course, “faithful” is the word in the text. But as soon as that is said, an ostensibly impenetrable defense is built of a highly-spiritual sounding excuse. I myself have heard, and used, the excuse.

Why is it often an excuse? How do you know if a farmer is faithful? You look at the field he’s been assigned to work in. How do you know if a builder is faithful? You look at the building he’s been working on. Is there fruit at the harvest? Is there another row of bricks laid?

In the parable of the talents, the master returned and told the five-talent man, “Well done good and profit-hungry servant. You have cared about my bottom line.” No. When the five-talent man made five more talents and presented them to the master, the master called him faithful. “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master” (Matthew 25:21).

Faithfulness starts in the heart but it does not stay there. Faithfulness is not a closet virtue. In preaching, that doesn’t necessarily mean that faithful preachers have mega-churches. A crowd isn’t the same thing as a field of believers growing in size and strength and unity and good works. But faithfulness usually has profit, at least to those with eyes to see.

The opposite of cheating and manipulating to make profit is not not wanting profit. The opposite is seeking blessing on the work done faithfully for the master.

Paul provided terms for how to think about preachers and the criterion for evaluating them: they are servants and stewards who must be faithful, with faithfulness understood as bringing gain to the master. But if there are two ways to make profit, a faithful way and a non-faithful way, how can we know? We actually can’t, at least not completely. The Corinthians were guilty of this mistake.

But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. The key word in verses 3 and 4 is “judged,” “examined” (NAS), “evaluated” (HCSB). The Corinthians were wrong exactly at this point. They thought they were wise, they thought their standards were the highest, and yet because they were worldly and fleshly and “infants in Christ” (3:1) of course they were wrong in the conclusions they made about Paul. And really any human court is limited, even the best. No human can see what God sees (and wouldn’t want to if he could).

Paul’ won’t even get too concerned about personal examination. In fact, I do not even judge myself. For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It’s not that he had no sin, but in terms of his preaching ministry, he had nothing pricking his conscience. He did what the Lord wanted him to do as far as he could discern. He was paying attention, since he’s able to say that he was not aware of anything. But he won’t offer a final conclusion because he’s not a perfect judge. Maybe his conscience is misinformed. Maybe he’s missing something else. Even if we think we’re good, we could be wrong. God is not asking us to grade ourselves, to accuse or acquit.

Jesus judges. It is the Lord who judges me. It could be more emphatically stated: “the One judging me is the Lord.” Faithfulness is required, and the one who evaluates faithfulness is not the church but the Head of the Church. It’s not up to a local church, it’s not up to a denominational committee or a presbytery.

Before we go on to the final verse of the paragraph, these verses have also been man-handled into excuses by certain unfaithful preachers. In putting it that way, I admit I have made a judgment. Am I already guilty of disobeying verse 5 which says to not to? No. Paul does not mean don’t ever judge any preacher/pastor for any reason. Paul appreciated the Bereans who eagerly received the word but who checked his work according to the Scriptures (Acts 17:11). Paul wrote out qualifications for elders/overseers/pastors in multiple places (for example 1 Timothy 3, Titus 1). He required that their progress be evident to all (1 Timothy 4:15). He confronted the Galatians for listening to and tolerating false teachers. Paul is not distancing preachers from the people. He’s saying, Be careful with your verdicts. You can’t know everything, and you are not the ultimate arbiter anyway. The preacher ought to be humble as a servant, he ought to see himself as a servant of the flock, and the flock ought to be humble in receiving preachers from God, knowing that those preachers will give an account to God.

it is the part of a good pastor to submit both his doctrine and his life for examination to the judgment of the Church, and that it is the sign of a good conscience not to shun the light of careful inspection. (Calvin)

Preachers ought to take the evaluations of their people seriously without taking them finally. Preachers ought to teach a people to be wise, and then they ought to listen to that wisdom. If a preacher ever says, “I don’t answer to you, I only answer to God,” you can be sure that he does not have a good answer ready to give to God.

The application comes in the form of a prohibition to the believers: be patient, the Lord sees.

Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, The “day of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1:8), “the Day” of fiery disclosure (3:13), is on time. On that day the Master will return and evaluate the work. Before the time is out of season, it’s too early.

When He comes He will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. We have investigations and examinations, we gather evidence and testimonies, but we can only see so much. One of the distinguishing acts of God is that He knows our hearts perfectly. His evaluation is thorough and perfect and final. Our evaluations may be true, but even when they are they are not the end of the matter. So we ought not give premature definitive verdicts (Thiselton). If there are hidden motives, they will not survive the Lord’s evaluation. We just need to wait for judgment season.

Not all of the evaluations will work out well, just as some of the work will be destroyed and the workers surviving but barely (3:15). For others, Then each one will receive his commendation from God. This is a large part of the reward, though again, I don’t think the worker’s reward can be completely disconnected from the fruit in the field of labor. Well done from the Lord will be very welcome.

A preacher who presents himself as something other than a servant of the Lord, who mixes in man’s wisdom with the mysteries of God, especially if he does it in order to elevate his own status/brand, is not trustworthy. Though we cannot judge fully, and it isn’t our job to sit in the Lord’s seat, we also have obligations to obey the word of God when it comes to expecting certain things from preachers. They are not untouchable, unaccountable to any human authority. Perhaps there have been times when a flock impatiently and inappropriately judged a pastor who was truly faithful. There is more correction for the Corinthians in the next section.

Nevertheless, I suspect far more times a pastor has claimed immunity in misapplication of these words. There will be judgment for that. We should know better.

1 Corinthians 3:18-23 may be the most important paragraph in the epistle. I don’t remember reading anyone else who would argue the same case, but to get what Paul is saying here is to get into a position to have a humble, thankful, and large life. It is daunting to try to communicate the height and depth and length and breadth of this worldview.

I'm excited that by the plan of providence we get to cover this paragraph the Sunday after Thanksgiving. It would have worked well the Sunday before too, but let's keep the great gratitude gravy boat full and flowing.

When I decided that 1 Corinthians was going to be my next book to study and preach I decided to use passages from it for the brief devotions at the beginning of each session at our Life to Life leaders retreat back in August. I usually give the retreat a theme and try to connect the devotions to said theme, and the theme was "All Are Yours" from this paragraph. I’ve been signing off my emails to the leaders since then with "All are yours." It is Kuyperian, it is overwhelming, it changes how one views the Church and the church, preachers, relationships, resources, salvation, the Trinity, time and eternity, heaven and earth. All is gift.

Paul is still on the subject of the Corinthians attitude toward one another, sort of like a sixth year senior: you wonder when are they going to move on. He's been addressing the issue of their quarreling and divisiveness since early in the first chapter. Their problems were both age-old and ever-current at the same time. The Corinthians were having problems getting along because they were thinking like and acting like the world. They were not thinking like God or acting like they were saved by a crucified Christ. Their standards were human standards, their ambitions were worldly ambitions, and their horizons got no further than the flesh on their noses. This is what Paul's been confronting.

In 1 Corinthians 3:18-23 he confronted them for deceiving themselves and limiting themselves. He described two traps of this age, traps in Corinth that are traps in every culture and traps even among Christians. He commanded them, and by application us, to stop being cheated.

There are two commands that make one point followed by an explanation that includes Scripture proof.

Let no one deceive himself. Is there ever a time that it would be good to convince oneself of anything that isn't true? Is there ever a time to lie to yourself? Why would anyone give themselves a self-inflicted wound? Self-deceived people aren't the ones doing any self-examination, so Paul gets their attention.

Here he puts his finger upon the true sore, as the whole mischief originated in this—that they were wise in their own conceit. (Calvin)

What is it in particular that he's concerned about? To be convinced one is wise using the standards of this age is to be willingly deceived. To want to be identified by the world as someone who is wise, to want to be relevant, is a trap. So, If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. The contrast between what the world thinks is wisdom and what is truly wisdom is visible only to those who aren't captivated by worldly wisdom. Consider: are you eager to have the approval of those who consider the cross foolish? Do you want to be seen as relevant, as cool, by those who think God is foolish? If so, become a fool in the world's terms so that you may become wise in God’s terms.

The explanation comes in verse 19. For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. Someone is wrong. Either God's wisdom is folly as the world says or the world's wisdom is folly as God says. Paul already said that the word of the cross is folly to the Very Important Persons. Now he turns it around and says that VIP actually means Very Ignorant Persons.

Paul proves it with two quotes from the Old Testament. For it is written, "He catches the wise in their craftiness." We would Sword Drill to Job 5:13 for this first reference (“which appears to be the only use of Job within the NT” Thiselton). The words are from Eliphaz to Job and, while we know that Job's counselors had problems, a lot of their problems were misapplication more than misinterpretation. What Eliphaz said here is true: crafty men, scheming and subtle and tricky men are caught in their own traps. They can't out-sneak God.

And again, "the Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile." This second quote comes from Psalm 94. This is one of the psalms we sing, and I thought about asking to put it in into the set for this morning, but instead I used part of it to call us to worship (verses 12-19), and maybe you'll think about it differently next time we sing it.

Psalm 94 is the "stupid people" song. Psalm 94 is titled "God of Vengeance, O Jehovah." Psalm 94 is about how the wicked are fools. God "who planted the ear, does he not hear? He who formed the eye, does he not see?" (verse 9). The Judge of the earth will rise up (verse 2) and the arrogant who pour out their words and afflict God's people God will "wipe them out for their wickedness" (verse 23). And these are the ones we're trying to impress? These are the ones whose thoughts...are futile, empty like a balloon, with just as much spittle, that we hope give us a seat at the Table of Influence? This is a trap and it must be avoided.

Here is another command followed with an explanation regarding every Christian's incredible endowment.

So let no one boast in men. It’s a recap and command. Verses 18-20 hit both the congregation and anyone trying to impress the congregation. Verses 21-23 are especially aimed at the congregation in how they view teachers and leaders. In verses 18-20 to be convinced one is wise using the standards of this age is to be willingly deceived. To want to be esteemed, to want to be seen as relevant is a trap. In verses 21-23 to boast in men, the ones who are considered wise using the standards of the world, is to be willingly small-minded. To follow a particular man, to identify with someone considered wise in this age, is a trap. We're not to boast or glory in men.

Why not? We might anticipate that Paul would contrast created finitude with their infinite Creator, to show the great chasm between the foolishness of God and the wisdom of men again, to humble those who are mere reflections of the original image, to point out that every worker is just a servant and not the owner of the building (verses 10-15). Those things are true, but Paul takes a different and extraordinary approach. This is humbling in another way.

For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future--all are yours.

What an amazing set of bookends: all (things) are yours. Because all wraps around the list, the list cannot be considered complete; the list is merely representative. Paul starts with the individual leaders that the Corinthians had identified with: whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas. This was obviously the issue that fired Paul up to write the letter, and he’s carefully shown that acting superior to others based on which preacher of the gospel one identifies with is foolish. Preachers preach a message that won’t win popularity contests, and preachers themselves can’t cause any growth. Preachers are called and used by God as tools in the field and for the building, but we boast in God not in men.

Paul inverts the perspective. The church is not identified with an important person, the person is identified with the important church. Which preacher you listen to isn’t a reason to feel superior, and the more persons who listen don’t make a preacher superior. Shepherds give account for their sheep, but in this case the sheep own the shepherds. The shepherds work for the sheep.

Paul, Apollos, and Peter were genuine preachers, those who built with gold, silver, and precious metals, those who preached the word of the cross. They undoubtedly had different emphases and unique personalities and varying styles. But all of them were given to the church, no church or group within the church was given to them. And so all of them were God-given gifts.

Imagine how long the applied list is for us: Paul, Peter, Augustine, Wycliffe, Luther, Tyndale, Calvin, Knox, Bucer, Baxter, Owen, Bunyan, Edwards, Whitfield, Spurgeon, Kuyper, MacArthur, Sproul, Piper, Wilson, Light, Martin, Sarr. I’ve selected some of my favorites preachers; all of them have been used by God to shape my thinking as they teach insights into God’s Word. Did I leave one of your favorites off the list? They are mine too! The Bible does not tell us to erase their names, it tells us how to process their names. That they are ours does not mean we choose who to reject, it means we receive all with thanks. It is a trap of small-mindedness and short-sightedness to restrict ourselves to just one.

That should be enough to make the point, right? That deals with the quarreling over which man they thought would make them more important. But Paul isn’t finished, and the next items on his list are Weltanschauung gold.

The world belongs to us, the kosmos. This is a different sense than the dominating unbelief and idolatry of the world. This is the created universe as Genesis 1 describes. It is all ours from God. Everything in Blue Planet and Planet Earth is ours, everything in every branch of science is ours, from acarology (the study of mites) to zymurgy (the study of brewing and distilling). Cars and trucks are ours, Mac and Windows are ours, iPhones and Androids are ours, fountain pens and computer keyboards are ours, apples and oranges, psalms and (maybe some) Reformed rap, every flower on any peak and in any valley, meat and other kinds of meat, coffee and tea, red and white wine, sun, moon, and stars, the world. And will we get trapped by such a close association with one thing that we’ll break fellowship with a (inferior) brother?

Next Paul says that existence is ours, life or death. Each breath and step and meal and marriage and birth and scraped knee and nap and early morning and late night and win and loss and bill and bonus and thumb’s-width is a gift. Even death is given to us. When it is considered rightly it does not ruin us or our loved ones in Christ. Death is “the release from all sin, temptation, [and] evil with which we wrestle now” (Lenski). Even the death of unbelievers serves us as it glorifies the God of justice (see Psalm 94:23).

Then Paul says that time is ours, things present or things to come. What is happening right now and whatever will happen in the future, we do not need to fear or fret, they are all ours. MacArthur pushes these possessions into the millennial kingdom and eternity, but that misses the present part.

“It is as if this multitude of servants surrounded us and on bended knees held out their precious offerings to us. Some of these servants like pain, injury, sickness, grief, and death may at first have a strange look to us who do not know our own royalty sufficiently. It is God who commissions them all and makes each one bring us some blessing so that as kings unto God we shall lack nothing.” (Lenski, Kings and Priests)

Four of these are mentioned in Romans 8:38 as possible threats that might keep men away from God, but they are also from God for us. Isn’t it surprising that the cure for division in the church is to stop being so shortsighted and unimaginative about nature and existence? When created things use us, they become ruthless gods. When we see them as ours from God, we live large lives.

All things belong to you, and you belong to Christ; and Christ belongs to God. We have all things because we belong to Christ who belongs to the Father. This is not about subordination, this is about family inheritance.

Of course we have preferences and favorites, at the dinner table and in the bookstore. We have different spiritual giftings (1 Corinthians 12) and different earthly vocations. We do not all have to love all the same things at the same level. But we love what we love in thanks God and we love that others love what they do in thanks to God. This is nicely nicknamed Kuyperian Dispensationalism. It is Trinitarian. It is the theology that lifts up our heads to see all the blessings abounding around us.

There are two ways to cheat oneself out of blessing in this paragraph. First, we cheat ourselves out of blessing when we embrace empty and fruitless relevance rather than true, divine wisdom that transcends this age. Acting superior according to inferior standards and identifying ourselves as wise in this age is a trap. Second, we cheat ourselves out of blessing when we truncate and limit who we listen to or what we appreciate rather than receiving our full, divine endowment that transcends this age. Identifying ourselves with the “wise” is a trap in this age.

When our identity is wrapped up in one association or getting certain appreciation then we will be threatened (what if someone or something better comes along”) rather than thankful. But when our identity is wrapped up in Christ we know that all things are ours!

Automated transcript of the sermon audio, generated with OpenAI Whisper (small.en). It has not been checked against the recording and may contain errors, especially in names and Scripture references.

Let's go and get started. By way of review, I pointed out last time that James is unique among the epistles because of its lack of any doctrine pertaining to the way of salvation. Just know where you're gonna go in James and figure out how is one saved. There's just nowhere in there that James describes it. And it's been misunderstood by some, particularly the Catholics, you know, I was raised Catholic, to be a defense of righteousness based on works. And I would agree that if James was the only New Testament book we had, it would be pretty easy to conclude that righteousness is indeed based on good works if that's the only book we had.

And I'm gonna actually be tackling that particular misunderstanding by the Catholics and others as we get into the message a little bit later tonight. I titled the series in James here, Manifesto for Gospel Living because I think that title gets at the gist of what the epistle of James is all about. It doesn't explain how one gets saved, but it gives clear examples of what a saved person looks like in everyday life. If you found a Christian out in the wild, what would they look like? I also described James as the lab exercise for Christian living as opposed to the lecture notes on how to become a Christian. Last time, if you can remember, we looked at the first two examples then of Christian living from chapter 1.

And those two examples were, one, joy and trials, and two, doers of the word. We saw that trials are inevitable in life. Anybody here managed to make it through life yet without any trials at all? Nope. So I think we can say trials are inevitable in life. and that each trial that comes our way presents us both a test and a temptation. The test we saw comes from God and it's designed to promote our spiritual maturity. And as such then, we shouldn't be grumbling our way through the test, but instead we should receive them with joy because God's given them to us to try to help promote our growth, make us more mature in Christ.

But we also saw that then with that trial, there was also then a temptation to sin. But we saw also from James that that temptation does not come from God. He says that God tempts no one. But instead that temptation originates within our own sinful lusts. Those that have a true saving faith are characterized then by being joyful in trials and not succumbing to the temptations that come along with those trials. And then the second example we saw was looked at was the doers of the word. In this example, James called out both those who were merely hearers of the word. I remember he gave the example of those, he said it's like they're the ones that look at the, a mirror and look at their face, but once they've gone away from the mirror, they've forgotten what kind of a person they were.

But we're supposed to be people who look into the word of God, see what the word of God says, and then do it. So he calls out those who are just hearers of the word, but he also called out those who had unbridled tongues. James reminds his readers that God brought them forth by the word of truth, and then they should then manifest that truth in their everyday life, exhibited by obedience, and then he gave us a couple of examples of what that might look like. He mentioned keeping oneself on stain by the world would be one manifestation of being doers of the word, and then taking care of orphans and widows in our distress would be another example of how we could be doers of the word.

So tonight then, we're gonna see two more examples of what real Christianity lived out looks like. The first example I call impartiality towards others, and the second example we'll look at then is called faith that has feet. A biblical discussion on impartiality, I think is very apropos for today. There is a huge backlash today among real and perceived unfairness.

Look at anywhere, any news outlet, Facebook posts, wherever, accusations of racism, sexism, ageism, and more are commonplace as these numerous groups spring up to combat what they see as unjust partiality and favoritism. It just, I didn't even bother to go out there and just take a look at how many groups are out there today, but you know, you've seen them all, the Black Lives Matters, and on the other side, the white supremacists, and on and on it goes, the feminism group, all of these different groups that are out there, they're all fighting what they perceive to be injustices, partialities that they resent.

And then likewise, faith without works is all too common today as well. That's also that second example we're gonna look at is also a problem today. There's a lot of so-called Christians who can pass a basic Bible quiz, but whose lives upon examination just don't exhibit any discernible difference from the world around them. It might be that they don't sin to the degree that the world does, but conversely, there isn't any real evidence of faith that would give away their identity as followers of Christ. We can call them the secret saints. Just, you know, they made a profession of faith somewhere, but there's just no evidence.

You know, another way to think about it is if they were put on trial for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to actually convict them in a court of law for being a Christian. As we take a look at this second example in James two, we're also gonna examine, as I mentioned, the Catholics claim that faithful cooperation with the grace of God via good works is necessary in order to receive justification from God. They advocate that God kickstarts the program by giving us His grace freely, but then we now need to cooperate with that grace of God and in that cooperation we manifest good works. They'll use the word charity to describe it, but it should come out in good works.

And they're saying it's in that cooperative process is whereby then that we become justified in God's eyes. This is more than just a difference of doctrinal opinion. This is a fundamental heresy that undermines the truth of the gospel, and then we really need to clearly refute it. So with that said, let's go ahead and dive in then these two examples in James chapter 2 on Christian living. First impartiality towards others. The text for this test or this example is found in James chapter 2 1 through 13 and join along as I read. My brothers show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in.

And if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, you sit here in a good place while you say to the poor man, you stand over there or sit down by my feet. Have you not made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil motives? Listen my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich and faith in the heirs of the kingdom, which he promised to those who love him. But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you and the ones who drag you into court? Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you've been called?

If you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. You are doing well. But if you show partiality, you're committing sin and are convicted by the law as a transgressor. For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it. For he who said, do not commit adultery also said, do not murder. If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment."

James makes the point of this first example of true Christianity pretty succinctly in verse 1. He just says, my brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. The New American Standard, I like that translation a little bit better. It says, my brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism. The point James is making is that when we show partiality in how we treat others, we fail to understand the terms under which we became a child of God. It wasn't because God found us more favorable in some way that He redeemed us.

He didn't look down from heaven and say, hey, there's some material I can work with. I think I'll redeem them. There was no merit in us. There's nothing in of ourselves that merits God's favors, and thus it's wrong to think that we are somehow more worthy than another person. The basis for acceptance before God is incompatible with then false human standards of differentiation. If we're looking out on Earth and our relationships and we're being partial based on these false human standards that is in direct opposition to what the gospel's all about and the basis for which we were saved. Treating others according to our own merit-based system implies that we somehow merited inclusion in the faith of our glorious Lord Jesus Christ.

We need to remember that it was when, when we were yet sinners that Christ died for us. We did not merit God's favor and therefore we must not require other people to merit our favor. It's arrogant and it's foolish for a believer to hold others to a higher standard than that which God used to accept us as one of his children.

Partiality is also wrong because it contradicts our call to be an image bearer of God. Numerous scriptures speak to God's impartial nature and just two examples would be Romans 2.11 which simply says a phrase out of that verse says God shows no partiality. And then over in Job 34.19 Job observes that God shows no partiality to princes nor regards the rich nor the poor, for they're all works of his hands. When we show partiality, it's sin because we are going against the character of the one whose image we bear. Now in this discussion about impartiality, we have to understand what James means by it. A modern interpretation of partiality that we might use today based on what we see in our culture is that James is arguing for some sort of equality among everybody with no sort of distinctions at all.

Wouldn't that really be the most impartial? Where we just said we're all just the same, no differences? But if that was the case, if he was arguing for some kind of grand equality among everybody, we'd have some apparent contradictions in the scripture. What do you do with God when he says, Jacob I have loved but Esau I have hated? This is the God with whom there's no partiality. And yet he loves Jacob, but he hates Esau. Leviticus 19.32 tells us that we're supposed to honor the aged. Paul wrote in 1 Thessalonians, to esteem highly your spiritual shepherds. In Ephesians 6, Paul wrote, masters stop threatening your bond slaves knowing that he who is both their master and yours is in heaven and with him there is no partiality.

Well Paul, if there's no impartiality, meaning equality, then why didn't you just tell them to set their bondservants free? Kinda interesting, huh? Right in the very verse where he is telling them to, that God shows no partiality, he doesn't say, and sets your slaves free. So obviously this idea of being partial has nothing to do with the idea of, it's not equivalent to saying we all have to treat each other equally.

Apparently impartiality does not include giving honor where honor is due, or allowing for different classes roles within society. So if impartiality allows for unequal treatment and distinction among groups, what does it mean? When is it bad? The Greek word used here that James uses for partiality is actually an idiom that literally means to accept a face and it's in the idea of preferring that face over that face. It carries the idea of making unjust distinctions between people and treating one better than another. But that definition alone still leaves something to be desired. Is it wrong if I favor my child over someone else's child?

If I buy my child a bike for Christmas, but I don't buy everybody else's kid a bike, am I violating what James is talking about here? Would he rebuke me for that partiality?

example of the poor man and the rich man helps, I think, shed some light on the situation. In the example we see the rich man being honored and the poor man being despised simply because of their economic condition. The rich man is being warmly received and given a place of honor simply because he's rich. The one receiving the rich man has made a distinction based on the meaningless superficial criterion wealth. Perhaps the host was hoping to curry favor with the rich person or maybe they felt that their status would be somehow elevated by the company they keep. You know we do that sometimes don't we? But if I hang out with the right kind of people that'll sort of boost my status. As James says this man he made judgment about the two guests based on evil motives. The rich man was useful and the poor man is not. And I think we're going to see that motive is often an indicator of when this partiality is wrong and sinful. Prejudice leads to all types of partiality. The sense we get from James' example is that partiality

based on superficial traits like racial, social, or economics is wrong. Motive is a key indicator is a key indicator of when partiality is wrong. Evil motives for partiality come in many forms, such as status seeking, self promotion. Sometimes it's just avoiding the unpleasant. Maybe somebody is not as pleasant to be around, so we try to avoid them. Acceptance by the crowd we wanna fit in. The crowd says who's cool and who's not. So I wanna be a part of the cool crowd, so I have to agree with the crowd that that person's not cool. fear of the different feelings of superiority, notions of self-importance. These can all lead to this practice of partiality that we should not be doing.

Perhaps James chose the rich man, poor man illustration because at the time he wrote, most of the Christians he was writing to would have been Jewish and poor. Following Christ was not a culturally popular thing to do And it often meant tremendous economic hardship. Nobody really wanted to employ them. Even those who had been more well-to-do as Jews, when they converted to Christ, they started to experience some persecution, might've had some negative effects on their economic situation. Even the whole culture in general was not too complimentary towards Christians. The Roman philosopher Celsus, he described believers for these words.

The Christians are like a swarm of bats or ants creeping out of their nests or frogs holding a symposium amid a swamp or worms in a convention in a corner of mud. Not a very high opinion. Well having illustrated the sin of partiality, using the rich man, poor man example, James then proceeds to show why it's wrong and frankly why it was crazy for them to be doing this. First, it was wrong because it is in direct opposition to the character of God. James reminds them, did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which he promised to those who love him? He's saying, would you look around?

Who is God's saving? At the time, many of those saved were the very same as the poor person being mistreated in the example. James is arguing that if God chose the poor of this world to be saved, then how dare anyone treat them in a non-dignified way. He's basically making the same point that Paul did in 1 Corinthians chapter one, 26 through 29. Paul wrote these words, for consider your calling, brother. Not many of you were wise, according to worldly standards. Not many were powerful. Not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise. God chose what is weak in the world shame is strong. God shows what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not to bring to nothing things that are so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. James rebukes his readers by calling out the inconsistency of showing partiality against the very kinds of people God was saving. You can just hear James' frustration in this.

saying, you're rejecting this man because he's poor. That's the exact kind of person that God is saving. How dare you? That is absolutely ridiculous. And then he bolsters his argument further by pointing out how crazy it was for them to show favoritism to the rich. He asks, is it not the rich who oppress you and personally drag you into court? Do they not blaspheme the fair name by which you've been called? You know, it's something about us people, but like moths drawn to a candle flame, people tend to be attracted to the rich and famous. It was true in James' writing, and it is true today. This, even though it's often the rich and the famous who are the ones who are most aggressive at mocking or attacking the very faith we hold dear.

We still see that going on today. We still idolize our heroes in the entertainment industry or sports industries or wherever, and we wear their jerseys and we applaud them for their performances, and then they turn around and they mock our faith and they ridicule it. James, Jewish readers, faced oppression wherever they went, whether from Jewish leaders or from the cultural elite where they lived. Given this reality, it made no logical sense to give preferential treatment to those who were your oppressors. And then starting in verse eight, James ramps up his prohibition against favoritism by reminding his readers of the royal law, which is to love your neighbor as yourself.

Partiality is not just an affront to the character of God, and in James' example, illogical, it's sin, it's a sin and it makes you a transgressor of the law. What James calls the royal law comes from Leviticus 19, 18. There it says, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. And then Jesus reaffirmed that command over in Matthew 22 when he said, when he was asked what's the greatest commandment, he said, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, with all your mind. This is the great and the first commandment and a second is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets.

That's a pretty powerful statement about how much is writing on these two commandments. Two big sky hooks, if you will. Love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. All of the law, all of the prophets, everything you've ever been taught, hangs on those hooks. And yet here they were violating one of those. Partiality is wrong because it violates the command to love your neighbor. And then this helps explain James' next point. partiality is a big deal because it directly contravenes the royal law and as such makes one then a transgressor of the law. You can see James really ramping up against the sin of partiality.

He starts off with an example that some of us might have just said, well that's just a case of just being rude. You know, that guy was just rude to the poor man. You know, we kind of chalk it off just in rudeness. But Paul, or James, successfully builds it. He takes it from the implications grow and grow starts off with it's inconsistent with the character of God, it's often illogical, it's a violation of the royal law, and ultimately it makes you a transgressor of the entire law.

That's a pretty big deal. In a few verses we've gone from guilty of favoritism by giving somebody a special seat in the house to being guilty of the entire law. Now perhaps James is making the point that when we practice the sin of partiality, We're basically doing what? We're acting like judges, aren't we? We're judging who's worthy of certain benefits or not. But the problem is, is if you wanna be a judge, judges live by the law, and therefore, they must abide by what the law requires. Such people are cursed because any violation of the law makes one guilty of all the law. Paul points this out in Galatians 3 when he wrote, For as many as are of the works of the law are under a curse, for it's written, cursed say everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law to perform them."

Once you get into that game of living by the law and playing judge, you just entered into a game where you got to keep the whole nine yards. You can't, it's not, you know, 90 percent is not enough. It's got to be all. Rather than showing partiality and judging people with evil motives, James urges his readers to start acting like those who'll be judged by the law of mercy rather than the law of impossible standards. He makes the statement that mercy triumphs over judgment. How does that work? If you want God's favor, you really only have two options. In reality, you only have one, but in theory, you have two options.

Number one, keep all of the law all of the time. Technically, that's an option if you want God's favor. Option number two, receive God's forgiveness for being a lawbreaker through his mercy. It's really only two choices you have to approach life. When we show partiality, it's the equivalent of living by the law and then we're going to be judged by the law's standards. Smack, you blew it. You blew it in one area, you're guilty of the whole law. If we're impartial towards others, we stop being judges under the law and then we become recipient of God's mercies. God's mercy triumphs over judgment. I think we should all choose option number two in that case.

All right, well that wraps up that first example then. Let's take a look at the second example. It's found in James chapter two and it's the fourth overall in our study in the book of James. It's found in verses 14 through 26 and I'm calling this example faith that has feet I got that thought from a story I heard once of a group of people. There was a prayer meeting and they were praying for a local abortion clinic. By the way, this is just an example, so don't do this, okay? But they were praying for a local abortion clinic to be shut down and lo and behold, the next day the place burned down. And they were all praising Jesus and found out that one of the ladies in the prayer group in the prayer group had gone and burnt the place down.

And she just, her answer was, she just, why don't you just put some feet to them in prayers. But now don't go out and burn an abortion clinic tonight, all right. But the idea is that faith should have some kind of feet in God honoring legitimate ways. Let's go ahead and read the section there and then we'll talk about it. Verses 14 through 26. What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works, can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, go in peace, be warmed and be filled, without giving them the things they need for the body, what good is that?

So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, you have faith and I have works. Show me your faith apart from your works, and I'll show you my faith by my works. You believe that God's one? do well, even the demons believe and shudder. Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith, apart from works, is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works. And the scripture was fulfilled that says, Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness, and he was called a friend of God.

You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messenger and sent them out by another way. For is the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead. If you've ever debated someone who believes in justification by works, they're gonna inevitably take you to this passage as proof of their view on that topic. Now if this was the only scripture we had to look at, it could look like justification by works is a valid doctrine. But is James arguing that justification occurs as a result of our works?

Verse 24 seems to be a powerful argument in the affirmative. I mean, what do you make of, You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. Catholic side says slam dunk, you know, how much clearer can that be? So what gives? If James is saying a person is justified by works, what do we do with Ephesians 2.8.9 for example, where it says, for by grace you've been saved through faith and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God, not a result of works so that no one may boast. So apparently James and Paul were not reading from the same script. They had a doctrinal disagreement, right? No. Fortunately, as we're gonna see, there was no disagreement between these two apostles regarding the doctrine of justification by faith alone, nor in their shared belief of the importance of good works.

Galatians chapter five, if you know that book very well, Paul has been vigorously arguing against the efforts by the Judaizers to convince the Galatian believers that faith in Christ alone wasn't enough, that was a good, but you needed to add to that some of the Mosaic rules and laws and especially circumcision, that was still really paramount and important, you gotta be circumcised. And Paul is fighting that in this book, arguing against it. You remember he even went after Peter in that, I think it was chapter three, and saying hey, because Peter had sort of kind of chickened out a little bit and he wanted to kind of get along with his Jewish friends and so he was starting to back that a little bit and Paul just came out with guns ablazing and said hey, what's wrong with you, you're crazy.

You can hear Paul's frustration even as you start off chapter three and he says, who has bewitched you? You know, before whose eyes Christ Jesus was publicly portrayed as crucified. He goes on to say, he says, Did you start this process by faith in Jesus and are you now gonna be perfected by efforts in the flesh, by works? You know, he's just totally frustrated with him at this point. And then towards the end of his argument in chapter five, he makes the following statement in 5-6. He says, for in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love. Paul's been blasting any calls for works based righteousness but he then declares that the only thing that counts for anything is faith in Christ working through love.

He's acknowledging in this statement that works do indeed matter but not as a means for justification. You may recall from church history that the Catholics in response to the Reformation, they had convened the Council of Trent. that council had actually met over a course of 18 years and they generated a long list of statements that called canons where they aimed to refute the reformers teachings, particularly they really didn't like justification by faith alone. And in one of those canons they said in part, whosoever shall say that men are justified by the mere imputation of Christ's righteousness or by the mere remission of sins, exclusive of grace and charity, when you hear that word charity, you gotta think works.

Exclusive of grace and works, which is shed abroad in their hearts by the Holy Spirit and is inherent in them, or also that the grace by which we are justified is only the favor of God, let him be anathema. And to my knowledge, the Catholics have never gone back and ever denounced that statement along with a bunch of others. By the way, if you're a sidebar, if you have Catholic friends and they're, I've got lots of Catholic family, we've got lots of discussions. They insist that no, we live by faith. They say the right words, but I take them to these writings in the Council of Trent and A, they've never seen them.

And I said, do you understand, this is official church teaching. And it typically stumps them. They really don't have an answer or response for that. Anyhow, Calvin, who I think had a little bit of snark here when he wrote this, I guess it was a book, but he wrote a collection of writings that was called The Acts of the Council of Trent with the antidote. I just like that, with the antidote. So here's the poison and here's the antidote. But he wrote in response to the Council of Trent, and in response to that, he wrote, I wish the reader to understand that as often as we mention faith alone in this question, we are not thinking of a dead faith which worketh not by love, but holding faith to be the only cause of justification.

It is therefore faith alone which justifies, and yet the faith which justifies is not alone. Just as is the heat alone of the sun, which warms the earth, and yet in the sun it is not alone because it's constantly conjoined with light. And then Martin Luther, I couldn't find the source, but I've often heard it attributed to Martin Luther that he had said, we are saved by faith alone, but the faith that saves is never alone. These thoughts, I believe, succinctly make the same point James is trying to make. So then, with this bit of background, let's look then at what James is really trying to say in his passage. Look again at verses 14 through 17.

What good is it in my brothers if someone says he's got faith but does not have works? How can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food and one of you says to them, go in peace, be warmed and be filled, without giving them the things they need for their body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. James is simply pointing out a common sense view of what saving faith looks like. There is a pseudo faith that is all talk and there's a real faith that has feet to it. Let me give you an example, an illustration for my own life. Up in Canada, in North Vancouver, there's a bridge called the Capilano Suspension Bridge.

Anybody here ever been to the Capilano? Couple people, of course the Canadians have been. It crosses over the Capilano River. It was originally built in 1889, and it's about one and a half football fields long, which is like 450 feet long. And it's up actually 230 feet above the riverbed. That's taller than a typical 20-story building. And it's about half the height of the Smith Tower in Seattle. And this bridge is basically about a six foot wide footpath suspended by two cables way up in the air. And then the sides of the bridge are basically just steel mesh that kind of lean out like this. So I've got about a six foot ween span, so I can kind of hit the steel mesh over here and steel mesh here, and then you got this 450 foot thing swooping across the river.

You really feel exposed when you're out in the middle of it. Gail and I were there just a few years ago, and if you don't like heights, it'll definitely give you the heebie jeebies, and if you wanna know what heebie jeebies feel like, talk to my wife, she can tell you. But I actually think I had to talk her into going out there. Looking out over the bridge, it really looks like the other side is a mile away. It's only 450 feet, but it might as well be a mile. It's just, you just see it goes swoop, and then back up. And there were people out on it, and as we're standing or looking at it, we can see it's kinda swaying like this, and it's got a little bit of a bounce going on in it as the people are walking across it.

And so you're looking at that and you're thinking, hmm, that'll be interesting. But as we stood there, we believed that we could cross the bridge without it collapsing. Intellectually, we were saying, well, people are walking across it and it hasn't fallen down yet, so we believed that it could support our weight. You could even say that we had faith that it would hold up. But at what point was our faith in the bridge real? It wasn't until we stood out in the middle of the bridge all of our talk about faith in the bridge really meant something. James uses the demons as an illustration to make basically the same point. He points out that the demons have faith that God is one, but that doesn't mean that they have a real faith. James says of them that at least their faith makes them shudder, which I guess is better than having a faith with no noticeable effect at all. He then goes on to give a couple of Old Testament and examples of real living faith.

The first example he gave us there is of Abraham when he attempted to sacrifice Isaac on the altar. Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, what faith apart from works, that faith apart from works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar?

You see that faith was active along with his works and faith was completed by his works and the scripture was fulfilled that says, Abraham believed God and it was counted to him righteousness and he was called a friend of God. Now key in on that phrase Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness because in this example James is asking the question was not Abraham or father justified by works? And again that sounds like a slam dunk rhetorical question for the Catholic view. But what is it that made Abraham righteous in the eyes of God. We can go over to Romans 4 where Paul gives a fuller treatment of what really brought about Abraham's justification. Paul even quotes that same passage, that same phrase I just directed you to look at, uses that exact same quote in making his point.

So starting in Romans 4.1 we read these words, what then shall we say was gained by Abraham our forefather according to the flesh, according to works. For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the scripture say, and here it is, Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift, but as his due. And to the one who does not work, but believes in him, who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness. Did you get that? And to the one who does not work, but believes in him, who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted to him as righteousness.

But James asked us, was not Abraham our father justified by his works? You have to put it all together to try to get the sense of what's really being communicated. Putting all of this together, it seems clear that justification is indeed by faith alone, But as Calvin and others observed, real faith is never alone. It always has feet. Abraham had to bind his son, place him on the altar, lift the knife to kill him, all to demonstrate that his faith in God was real. What James is challenging is the notion of easy believe-ism. The idea that if a person believes a certain set of truth statements in her head, and they pray a prayer when they're two years old, They can basically live their life any way they want and they're saved.

That's a lie that all of us should deny. James then gives a second example, similar example from the life of Rahab the harlot. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone and in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way. Rahab's act of faith was so notable that she is included in the list of people of faith found in Hebrews 11, we call that chapter the Hall of Faith, an example of those who live by faith. It's interesting as you read through that, you keep seeing the phrase by faith, so and so did such and such.

In fact, there's 17 times that they call out somebody and say by faith, Moses, or by faith, Abraham, or by faith, Rahab, and on and on, and then at the end he just throws in about there are 10 or 12 more groups of people without mentioning that phrase. But we see again the inexplicable, you can't extract faith from works.

Our righteousness is not, our works are not the cause of our righteousness, but our works are the evidence that we have a saving faith. None of these people in Hebrews 11 are mentioned simply for having faith. It doesn't say, and he believed, and he believed, and he believed, and he believed, but it says by faith they did this, by faith they did that. Every mention of the faithful cites an action that gave proof of the faith in God. Good works cannot save anyone. If that was the case, then there would be lots of people who don't know God, who are saved. But good works are a necessary proof for those who claim to have faith in God.

This is the point James makes up as he wraps up this fourth example of what real Christianity looks like. Verse 26, for as the body, apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith, apart from works, is dead. A body without the spirit does not have life. Pretty obvious, right? Not Princess Bride, not mostly dead, but dead dead, okay? And a faith that does not manifest good works is dead. It's as simple as that. The cause of justification is faith alone, but the faith that justifies produces actions. This is not just semantics. If I believe my actions play a role in my justification, then I have, as Paul said, a reason to boast, and that takes glory away from God, and that can't possibly be.

So then, now, with that all said, we've now then looked at four examples of what real Christianity looks like. We saw that it exhibits joy in the face of trials, that resists the temptation to sin. A person of real faith is a real Christian, a doer is of the word, they're obedient to what the word says. They're impartial in their treatment of others and their faith has feet and does good works. There's evidence in it. James gave us some examples of what that looks like, seeing a brother in need and giving him the food and the clothing he needed. Very down to earth, very practical. You know, we don't have to go climb the highest mountains to show our faith. It can be as simple as given that cup of cold water, but we need to be doing those kinds of things.

Now no one exhibits all these traits perfectly because we're all sinners. However, we should be characterized by them. So I'd like you this week then to be thinking about these four examples and just consider your life and how true are they of you. Given this list of what a real Christian looks like, would there be enough evidence to convict you of being a Christian if you were brought to court on that topic. Let's pray. Well Father, this book, I'd be interested to meet James and know what kind of a man he was. He sounds like the kind of guy who would be in your face confronting our Christianity.

Thank you for having led him to write this book to challenge us, to have us examine our faith and see if it's real or not. Thank you Father that our justification is by faith alone but you and your spirit then work through us, through your spirit to convict us of sin and of righteousness and of judgment to come. You point out to us the opportunities that we have to live out our faith every day. May we be found faithful to put feet to our faith May we be faithful to not show partiality to others, but to receive all with the same gladness and the same spirit of welcomeness that you do, but Father, just don't let us settle into a quasi-pseudo-Christian-e-thene where we just have a bunch of sentences right, but that there again is no real evidence of it in our lives. Just continue to shake all of us up Father to continue to press on to as some have said in this room to get after it to be serious about our faith in Christ.

Father just thank you for all your good gifts as we enter into this holiday week and times of thanksgiving. May the times be sweet as we gather with friends and family and may you be pleased with all that you see as this week transpires. We pray in Jesus name, Amen.