Trinity Presbyterian Church North Bay — Sermons & Sunday School

Sunday School class led by Rev. W. Reid Hankins at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 05/22/2022 in Novato, CA, considering Article 27 of the Belgic Confession.

Sermon preached on Luke 12:49-59 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Worship Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 05/15/2022 in Novato, CA.

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Last week’s passage warned us to be prepared for the second coming of Christ.  Today’s passage continues to develop this concern by helping us to think about what we should be doing here and now in light of that truth.  Christ is coming again, and we need to recognize that, and prepare accordingly.  So then, we’ll consider this in three points today.  First, we’ll consider this idea about how we need to rightly interpret the times we live in.  Second, we’ll consider this lesson about settling with your accusers.  Third, we’ll consider how Jesus says that he came to bring not peace but a sword.

So then, we begin in our first point to consider how to rightly interpret the times we live in.  I’m referring here largely to what you’ll find in verses 54-56.  Jesus turns to address the crowds and gives them a lesson out of their own lives.  He acknowledges how they are able to discern the weather by interpreting the signs.  If they see a cloud rising in the west, they think, “Okay it’s going to rain.”  Or if they see a south wind blowing, they know its going to be a really hot day.  Notice that he says they are good at making these predictions, because for both examples he says, “and so it happens”.  As they predict, so it happens.  But this is effectively a parable, in that Jesus is making a figurative application here to them.  Jesus isn’t ultimately concerned to compliment their weather prediction skills.  Rather, he then goes on to give an application in verse 56.  He applies this to them to say that they aren’t able to interpret the present time.  They can interpret the times when it comes to weather.  They can discern what will happen based on physical signs.  But Jesus says they can’t look at the signs of what is going on spiritually and in regards to redemptive history to determine what is soon coming.

Interestingly, he calls them hypocrites for this failing.  A hypocrite is someone to pretends to be something that they are not.  In this circumstance, surely Jesus refers to their religious hypocrisy.  The people held themselves out as religious people.  They acted like they knew so much about God and his ways.  They surely prided themselves on their knowledge of God’s Word.  As an example of their outward show of religion, was their common practice of wearing phylacteries on their foreheads and arms.  Those were little boxes that contained small portions of the Scripture inside them.  The Jews would have held themselves out as experts of the one and only true God who made the heavens and the earth.  They would have held themselves out as wise to the ways and plans of God.  But Jesus says they weren’t.  They may have deceived themselves even.  But Jesus shows that their ability to forecast the weather was a skill that they did not possess regards to God and his plans.  They missed the signs that should have signaled God’s working in their day.  However wise they claimed to be of God’s ways, they weren’t actually that.  Thus, they were hypocrites, religiously speaking.

I appreciate that Jesus says this to the crowds, and not just to the scribes and Pharisees.  Jesus has already called those religious leaders hypocrites, but now he says the same to all the people.  Just like you don’t need to be a professional meteorologist today to have some basic ability to discern the weather, so too everyone should have some basic ability to discern the times we live in, redemptive-historically.  That of course,

Sunday School class led by Rev. W. Reid Hankins at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 05/15/2022 in Novato, CA, considering Article 27 of the Belgic Confession.

Sermon on Luke 12:35-48 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins and read by Elder Marlin Viss during the Morning Worship Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 05/08/2022 in Novato, CA.

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Today’s passage naturally follows from last week’s discussion about valuing heavenly treasure over earthly treasure. Here, Jesus warns them and us about the coming day of judgment. At the day, earthly treasure will do you no good. But what you will need at that day is a storehouse of heavenly treasure. Such treasure fundamentally comes from God’s grace through faith in Jesus. So then, today we’ll consider first in general the doctrine of the second coming of Christ. Then, we’ll consider how Jesus says people should respond to this doctrine. Lastly, we talk about the applicability of this doctrine. As we walk through these points, we’ll spend time addressing the two main parables in this passage, the Parable of the Watchful Servants in verses 35-40 and the Parable of the Faithful versus Unfaithful Servants in verses 41-48.

Let us begin first to talk in general about the second coming of Christ. This is also known in theological terms as the Parousia. If you look up the word Parousia in the Merriam-Webster dictionary, it defines the word Parousia as, “The time when Jesus Christ will return to judge humanity at the end of the world.” That’s a solid definition. So then, we see Jesus prophesy his second coming in verse 40. He says there that the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. We remember that the Son of Man is his common way he refers to himself in his role as Messiah. Now this whole passage is largely talking about his second coming, but much of it is cloaked in parable. But verse 40, he speaks to make application of his parables directly to himself. He has a future date of his coming. The idea here is that Jesus would soon die on the cross then rise from the dead. Then he would then ascend up into heaven. From there, through the ministry of his church, he will make disciples of all the nations, Matthew 28:18-20. But one day he will return to this earth. He went up in the clouds into heaven, and he will return back to earth, coming in the clouds, Acts 1:11. This will be the final climactic event of this present age. At that time, when he returns, the dead will be raised and Jesus will judge the living and the dead at a final day of judgment. As Jesus said in John 5:28-29, “Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.” So then, the return of Jesus Christ to this earth marks the end of this age and the resurrection of the dead. There will then be a final judgment where one’s eternal destiny will be declared, Revelation 20:11-15. Those forgiven and saved in Jesus will be ushered into the glory of the age to come and the rest will cast into an eternal judgment of the lake of fire.

This is why it is so important to know that Christ is coming again. He tells us this as a warning. But returning to verse 40, we learn in this passage that we won’t know exactly when he will return. He is going to come at hour that we don’t expect. It is these parables in our passage that further teach that. The first major parable here is that of the Watchful Servants. Starting in verse 35, Jesus describes servants who are waiting for their master to return home after a wedding feast. So the master goes away, which is akin to how Jesus right now has gone away up into heaven. But in verse 36 it imagines the servants should be waiting up for their master to come home so they can open up the door to him and receive him when he returns. But notice in this parable that it is the uncertainty of when the master will return that is ...

Sunday School class led by Rev. W. Reid Hankins at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 05/08/2022 in Novato, CA, considering Article 27 of the Belgic Confession.

Sermon on Luke 12:13-32 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins, and read by Elder Marlin Viss, during the Morning Worship Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 05/01/2022 in Novato, CA.

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Today’s passage is a great illustration of what heavenly-mindedness looks like as it pertains to wealth. You might recall that last month we had a sermon on heavenly-mindedness from Colossians in light of the resurrection and ascension of Jesus. Here, we have some good application of that principle as Jesus calls us to prioritize heavenly treasure over earthly treasure. Jesus gives us this teaching first with a parable and some extended teaching on the topic. The outline then for our sermon today will be to first consider earthly treasure and then in our second half to consider heavenly treasure.

So then, let us begin by thinking first about earthly treasure. We see that Jesus doesn’t just have in mind valuables like gold or rubies or things like that. Verse 14 speaks in general terms of one’s possessions. The parable then references grain for food. Verse 23 again mentions food, and also clothing. If anything, much of Jesus’ focus on earthly treasures have to do with the basic necessities of life. So then, that’s what I want us to acknowledge first about such earthly possessions. There is a certain essentialness to them. There are various basic necessities such as food, clothing, and shelter that humans require to live.

So here is the first point about earthly thing I want us to notice about such earthly treasure. Look at verse 30. It says that your God knows you need them. God, our heavenly father, knows that we need these earthly necessities. We will spend a lot of time today talking about bad pursuits of earthly treasure and how we should prioritize the pursuit of heavenly treasure. But realize, there are various earthly treasures you do need. Your heavenly father knows this. Thus, this passage doesn’t deny this. It even acknowledges that God will give them to us in verse 31, when it says that “and these things will be added to you,” if we but first have the proper perspective and priority. And so having earthly possessions is not inherently bad, nor is it wrong to work hard to acquire such things. And when we do work hard and get them, we should thank God for them. And it would be wrong to be slothful and idle in regards to acquiring such earthly possessions. Verse 30 helps remind us that there are certainly various earthly necessities in this life and we should attend to acquiring them.

That all being said, our passage focuses not so much on the necessity of earthly possessions, but on their trappings. I will highlight four. First, there is a temptation toward covetousness. This is in verse 15. Jesus says to “take care” and “be on guard” against all forms of covetousness. The word there in verse 15 translated as covetousness could also be translated as greed. It refers to a disposition to have more than one’s fair share, or to acquire so much more than others at their expense. But in response, Jesus goes on in verse 15 to declare that life does not consist in the abundance of one’s possessions. That is a helpful nuance to the fact that God knows we need these things. God knows we need various earthly possessions, but while that is true, still, our life does now consist in having a lot of those things. This doesn’t even say that abundance is even bad. But don’t make your life be about the acquisition of wealth. Don’t let getting rich be your chief end in life. Don’t become so enamored with earthly possessions that your identity and purpose in your life is bound up with them. That is where covetousness and greed can end up.

A second trapping of earthly treasure is the temptation to selfishness.

Sunday School class led by Elder Marlin Viss at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 05/01/2022 in Novato, CA, considering our union with Christ.

Sermon preached on Luke 12:1-12 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Worship Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 04/24/2022 in Novato, CA.

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Whom should we fear? This is a question raised throughout our passage for today. Here we are reminded again in Scripture that fear is not inherently good or bad. There are some things we should not fear. There are some things we should fear. Even things that we should fear, we can fear inordinately, more than is warranted, but that is a lesson for another day. Today’s passage instead calls us to consider whom we fear. While our pew Bible discretely divides today’s passage into three sections, each develops this theme for today. In short, we can see that our passage warns us to not fear man but to fear God. We’ll explain and clarify what these exhortations do and don’t mean as we work through our text for today.

Our first point for today will be to consider how we ought not to fear man, as Jesus says in verse 4. Let me begin by clarifying that biblically there are in fact certain ways in which are to fear men. For example, Romans 13:7 says there is a way in which we should fear the civil government. 1 Peter 2:18 says that servants should fear their masters. I could go on with more quotes. The point is that there is a certain fear of respect that shows due honor to humans in general and especially those in various positions of authority. Since Scripture must interpret Scripture, we must not understand Jesus’ words here to deny such. Rather, what Jesus is dealing with in this passage is a relative and comparative fear between God and man. We must fear God over man. In fact, when we fear a civil magistrate in the Biblical sense it should be because we fear God who told us to fear those in authority. And yet Jesus acknowledges how too often we can fear man over God. That’s what he is addressing when he commands us here to not fear man.

So then, we see this concern first raised by Jesus in verse 1 when he warns them about the bad influence of the Pharisees. Remember that the Pharisees were a religious sect among Israel and Jesus warns them against their leadership. Normally, you would think how your religious leaders would be people you should show a proper fear of respect. You would especially honor them by following their leadership. This would all certainly be true if they were leading you in the ways of God. But Jesus warns the people that these Pharisees were not doing that.

Jesus then explains why in verse 1 that the Pharisees were not good leaders to follow. It’s because they are hypocrites. This is actually another form of wrong fear of man. The word for hypocrite in the Greek means to put on a show. It’s to pretend to be something that you aren’t. The pretense is the emphasis in the Greek. They are pretending to be very religious. And why would someone put on such a religious show? It’s not going to fool God or impress him. People pretend to be very religious to try to get praise from men. It’s people-pleasing and it’s a sinful form of fearing man. More specifically, it’s fearing man over God because such religious hypocrisy means you care more about what others think of you than what God thinks of you. And so, Jesus warns against showing too much fear for these religious leaders given the fact that they themselves are showing too much fear for man. For the people to follow such leaders would not make them more religious. Instead, they would just fall into the trap of fearing men over God by being led into hypocrisy like the Pharisees.

We see another situation where we don’t need to fear man over God in verse 11 when Jesus references various human courts. Verse 11 says, “And when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities,...

Sunday School class led by Rev. W. Reid Hankins at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 04/24/2022 in Novato, CA, considering Article 26 of the Belgic Confession.

Sermon preached on Colossians 3:1-17 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Worship Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 04/17/2022 in Novato, CA.

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The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead has many benefits to the life of the believer. Today, we will consider how his resurrection calls us to be heavenly minded. There’s an old, even funny, quote that says, “Some people are so heavenly minded that they are of no earthly good” (Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr). While that may be true for some people, that is certainly not what the Scripture is advocating for here. Rather, this passage says that genuine heavenly mindedness has much good for how you live here and now on earth. This we will consider today as we remember the significance that Jesus Christ is risen! We’ll do so by working through the first four verses in order.

We begin in our first point to consider verses 1-2. “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.” There’s the call to heavenly mindedness. But notice that basis. Raised with Christ. That’s what these opening verses are basing this exhortation in. If you’ve been raised with Christ, then be heavenly minded. But that statement itself is based on a premise. The premise is that Christ is raised. That is a good premise because it is an accurate one. We celebrate again today that Christ Jesus rose from the dead on the third day. We affirm again today that this is not myth or legend or just some spiritual story unfounded in reality. No, the resurrection of Jesus Christ was a physical and historically reality. He really died here on earth. He really rose again here on earth. Christ has been raised from the dead by the powerful working of God.

Now, if you take this word “raised” in verse 1 in the context of the verse, you might interpret that to refer to his ascension. Remember, forty days after Jesus rose from the dead he ascended up into heaven from the Mount of Olives. If you just had verse 1, you’d be justified in such an interpretation, because it speaks of Jesus being seated at the right hand of God in heaven which is the result of his ascension. In the ascension, Jesus was raised up into heaven from this earth. However, in the broader context, we can go back to the previous chapter in 2:12 where this language of raised is used there to explicitly reference Jesus being raised up from the dead. So, by the time you then get to verse 1 here in chapter 3, you are already setup to understand this language of “raised with Christ” as a reference to Jesus rising from the dead. So that means Paul is taking this idea of Jesus being raised from the dead and extending it to the ascension. Paul takes Christ’s resurrection and ascension as one big, sweeping idea together. Jesus wasn’t raised up from the dead just to have more life here on this earth and in this age. Jesus was raised from the dead up unto the exalted life of the glory of heaven and the age to come. Paul sees the resurrection and ascension closely connected. And that is important to understand because he’s bringing both to bear on us, on how we are called to be heavenly minded even while we are here on earth.

In other words, if we are united to Christ by faith, we are united in Christ’s resurrection and thus also in his ascension. Jesus was raised not just to more life here [on earth] but to a greater life there [in heaven]. Paul says that believers who are united to Christ are partakers in this. We’ve been raised up into heaven with him, so what we seek, what we aspire toward, should not be mere earthly and carnal things. No, we should seek heavenly and spiritual things.