theology-ecclesiology

Don’t Forget Who Our Real Enemy Is!

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“It may help to be reminded of some of the important doctrines to which dispensationalists subscribe wholeheartedly. After all, dispensationalists are conservatives and affirm complete allegiance to the doctrines of verbal, plenary inspiration, the virgin birth and deity of Christ, the substitutionary atonement, eternal salvation by grace through faith, the importance of godly living and the ministry of the Holy Spirit, the future coming of Christ, and the eternal damnation of the lost. Those who are divided from us in the matter of dispensationalism or premillennialism may remember the areas in which they are united with us. As already noted, some doctrines are more important than others, so it particularly behooves us not to cut off our fellowship from those who share similar views about these important doctrines. There are few enough these days who believe in the fundamentals of the faith, and to ignore those who have declared themselves on the side of the truth of God is unwise. Something is wrong with our circles of fellowship, sense of priority, or doctrine of unity when conservatives view fellow conservatives as the opposition party and then find their theological friends among those who are teaching and promoting error.”—Charles Ryrie, Dispensationalism, Kindle loc. 4236.

Help for New Expositors: Know Where Your Authority Lies

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UnknownWithout God’s Word, a church has no hope as it prepares to meet this God who is to judge the living and the dead. It has no way to know the gospel in a saving way (Rom. 10:14–17; 1 Cor. 1:21). It has no way to grow in Christ. Without the Word of God, a preacher, especially a young preacher with little history, has no true authority. He might be able to woo them with the devices of the flesh just like any comedian or rock star. But without the Word he will have no true spiritual trust from his people. Why would a church entrust its spiritual good to a know-nothing twenty-nine-year-old? Why would an older man who has been a Christian for twenty years, raised a family, and had a career care what this twenty-nine-year-old says about marriage or children or money or taking up your cross and following Jesus? But if that twenty-nine-year-old can simply open the pages of the Bible and explain what God himself says, then the church has something with which to work. Then the authority rests not in the preacher or his personal wisdom and experience but in the authority of God himself who has breathed his Word. –McKinley, Mike. Church Planting Is for Wimps: How God Uses Messed-up People to Plant Ordinary Churches That Do Extraordinary Things (9Marks) (Kindle Locations 604-613). Crossway.

Do you treat your church like a rental car?

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rental car

“People treat rental cars much differently than cars they own, and people treat a church they “just rent” much differently than one where they “own the mission.” Pastors and church leaders aim for “buy-in” and “involvement,” but what they really long for is ownership. When we turn the pages of Scripture, we are forced to deal with a God who demands utter and absolute commitment to His ways and His cause. We are desperate for this radical ownership to be the mark of our local churches. As our church members embrace the beauty of mutual oneness and ownership in the local body, they move from “renting” or “borrowing” the mission they hear the preachers preaching and internalize the mission as their own.”

Designed to Lead: The Church and Leadership Development, Eric Geiger and Kevin Peck, Kindle loc. 1837.

The Sanctity of Marriage, part 2

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pexels-photo.jpg

For part 1 of this post, see here.

The first two attributes of God-ordained and blessed marriage are related and are best understood together. Marriage marked by a relationship that is both heterosexual and monogamous demonstrates the glorious design of God in creation. In Genesis 2:18, when the Lord saw that it was not good for man to be alone, he created for Adam from his side a solitary woman (Gen 1:22). At this point of creation, God potentially could have made another male, several males, several females, or an animal that would have been an alternative to this single woman that He chose to create as the perfect mate for Adam. But in the Lord’s infinite wisdom He made a woman from the side of the first man. By defining this attribute of marriage for humanity the Lord ruled out the possibilities of adultery, homosexuality, polygamy, polyamory and bestiality. One man and one woman were all that God made in the Garden when he declared that it was “very good” at the close of the seventh day of creation (Gen. 1:31).

The boundaries of marriage restricted to a couple that are both heterosexual and monogamous are not simply one option among many. Neither is this simply a construct agreed upon by society in the past that has become outdated and impractical in our modern era. Because God established these parameters in the beginning with the first man and woman, they are binding upon all humanity for all time. John MacArthur writes, “From the very first marriage, that of Adam and Eve, God has joined together every husband and wife. Marriage is first of all God’s institution and God’s doing, regardless of how men may corrupt it or deny or disregard His part in it. Whether it is between Christians or between atheists or idolaters, whether it is arranged by parents or by the mutual desire and consent of the bride and bridegroom, marriage is above all the handiwork of God…”[1]The pattern for marriage was established in the first marriage. Thus it excludes all illicit relationships outside of this pattern, including adultery, homosexuality, polygamy and polyamory. Every corruption of the divine order for marriage is willful and open rebellion against the Creator. As Paul address the church in Rome, a church that undoubtedly saw similar desecration of marriage, he wrote: “Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen”[2](Rom 1:24-25, ESV).

The third attribute of God-glorifying marriage is implied in what has been said above regarding Eve being made for Adam. Marriage was designed by God for the lifetime of each of the marriage partners. The Bible is explicit regarding God’s desire for the commitment of marriage and speaks against such sins as polygamy, polyamory, adultery, divorce and fornication. Each of these sins strikes at the heart of God’s intention for marriage between one man and one woman for life. Although the practices of polygamy, concubinage and divorce were tolerated to a certain extent because of the hardness of man’s heart, the Lord Jesus stressed that “from the beginning it was not so” (Matt 19:8). Such sins as sexual immorality, including prostitution, fornication and adultery have always been an abomination to the Lord (Ex 20:14; Lev 20:10, 14; Matt 15:19; 1Cor 6:18; 1Thes 4:3).

The subject of divorce is a particularly difficult issue that needs to be understood in light of God’s intentions for marriage. Whereas there is no debate among fundamental Bible churches regarding the sinfulness and reprehensible nature of sexual immorality, polygamy, adultery, or homosexuality, there are different views regarding divorce and what is allowable. These differences exist among Bible believing brethren not in spite of, but becauseof our commitment to the authority of the Word. Simplistic answers do not help as we seek to minister and guide hurting families that have struggled in any of these areas of sin, including divorce.

Two biblical facts regarding divorce are agreed upon by all—God hates divorce (Mal 2:16) and divorce was never His intention for marriage (Mk 10:11-12) because it is the destruction of the one flesh union that was created in the marriage covenant (Gen 2:24). Where disagreement occurs among well-intentioned brethren is regarding the question of whether there is anyallowance for divorce. But even among those who believe that divorce is sometimesallowable, such divorces are restricted to two possible reasons: sexual immorality and abandonment by an unbelieving spouse (Matt 5:32; 1Cor 7:15) and is not allowable for just any cause (Matt 19:3).

An additional issue regarding divorce must also reconcile the biblical texts regarding remarriage and whether it is allowable or not (cp. Matt 5:32; Mk 10:11-12; 2Cor 6:14). These matters regarding divorce are not simple because individual situations vary and wisdom in the application of Scripture is necessary. Whatever a person or church concludes about divorce and remarriage, it must be done with a thorough commitment to scriptural truth along with grace in understanding that there are other views that must be recognized with respect and charity.

Seeking to Remain Biblical in Our Changing World

All Christians committed to the inerrant infallible Word understand that these matters are of immense importance to our world as we seek to minister to those who repent and turn to Christ as their only hope. Christ calls His Church to faithfulness to His Word while navigating the new challenges to marriage that we are encountering in our ever changing world. Our commitment to the Scripture’s standard must always remain as unchanging as the Word itself, and we must resist every effort to capitulate to the culture for the sake of expediency or to gain the esteem of the world. This will take wisdom, added care, grace and patience, but it is our responsibility if we intend on ministering to those in our hurting world without compromise.

With Christians not only teaching what the Bible says about marriage, but also living it out before a watching world, Christ will be glorified as we paint a picture of His love for the Church and our submission to Him (Eph 5:22-33). This will be a powerful testimony added to our loving care for those that are in need of the message of gospel.

[1]John MacArthur. The Divorce Dilemma, Day One Publications, Leominster, England, (2009), p. 39.

[2]The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2016), Ro 1:24–25.

Help For New Expositors: The Four P’s of a Balanced Sermon

/ Richard Bargas / 7 Comments

esv_studybibleExpository preaching is both an art and a science. But we must beware of the danger of making our sermons either too light or too dense in regards to our content. Those expositors that are more cerebral can easily slide into a lecture mentality that sees the pulpit as a lecture and each Sunday as an opportunity to dump all of their exegetical research upon their unwary members. Those who have been given the “gift of gab” can think that simply because they can fill the allotted teaching time with witty speech, good stories and lots of application are being faithful to preach when they are most often simply pandering to the baser desires of their listeners.

A helpful way to know how to organize a well-balanced sermon is to follow the rule of the Four P’s–Point, Proof, Picture and Practice. Every sermon point should include all of the “P’s” as a general rule. There are some exceptions, but as a general rule, these should be followed for most sermons.

  1. Point-Whether you have 2, 3, 4, or more, you need to have main points which point to your thesis statement (sometimes called a propositional statement). If you just read a passage, talk about it a little bit, throw in some illustrations and application randomly as they come to mind, this is not biblical exposition. The mind of the listener needs clarity to aid its understanding and organization helps with this. Stay your point, and then…
  2. Proof-Prove your point. If you state that your sermon thesis is “Three Unimpeachable Evidences that Jesus is the Son of God,” then one of your points may be–“Jesus forgave sins.” Your proof will be the exegetical proof taken from the given text for this sermon. This might include cross-references to strengthen the doctrinal truth or it might include word studies or contextual information to make clear the meaning of the passage. Whatever you include, this part of the sermon should only include information that adds clarity and argues the idea of the main point. In other words, your long study of the Greek post-positive de should be left in your study, unless it is necessary to understand this main point.
  3. Picture-Simply put, this is an illustration. Your illustration should direct your hearers to think about the main idea of your point in a concrete way. It might continue an example from Scripture or history, or it might be a more contemporary picture of what this main idea looks like today.
  4. Practice-This is application. Application follows illustration logically because we cannot apply what we do not fully understand, and illustrations help with clarifying the ideas we have presented. The application seeks to help the hearer put into practice what the biblical text says they should feel, believe or do.

Every one of these P’s should be present for each main point of a sermon to continue to help the sermon move along with clarity, timelines and purpose. All put together, they explain the text, illustrate the main concepts and show the hearer how they should be applied.