Bible

7 Take-Aways From Jesus’ Discipleship Lesson in Matthew 10:15-25

/ Richard Bargas / Leave a comment

“Truly, I say to you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town. “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles. When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death, and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next, for truly, I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes. A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household.” (Matthew 10:15–25, ESV)

  1. Be courageous as you go into the world because you go as an ambassador of God (vv. 16, 20).
  2. Cruel hatred is often a part of a faithful witness (vv. 17-18).
  3. Through great trials will come great opportunities for the gospel (v. 18).
  4. In the pain and fear, never forget that God has not left you (v. 19).
  5. Faithfulness to Christ can drive a wedge in a family (vv. 21-22), but you must stand firm with Christ.
  6. In the midst of persecution, don’t lose sight of the Second Coming of Christ (v. 23).
  7. Being like Jesus is not only reflected in love and holiness, but it also includes great suffering (vv. 24-25).

Help For New Expositors: A Simplified Sermon Preparation Checklist

/ Richard Bargas / 5 Comments

Checklist

Over a decade ago, I was frustrated with my lack of methodology in sermon preparation. It seemed that every time I sat down to prepare a message, that I started in a slightly different way or I would do things in a different order. I was taught the exegetical method in seminary, but there are some things that only practice and experience can teach. I knew that I needed some sort of a form or checklist to help me move from one stage of preparation to the next. I don’t use this as much any more, but it served as a great training resource until I was so used to the movements of sermon prep that I didn’t need it any more. Below is what I came up with. If it helps you, great! If you have any questions about how each part functions, let me know in the comments. (By the way, my version has check boxes after each step, so I could get the satisfaction that comes from finishing each step with a “check.”)

 

Text: ____________________ Date to Preach _____________

 

1. Read the text in its context.  (Read 25x. Hash marks:)____________

Take notes on observations, questions, and cultural/historical issues that you need addressed later in your study.

2. Read the text 1x in alternative versions:

    • ESV
    • NASB
    • NIV
    • KJV
    • NKJV
    • NLT
    • The Message

3. Translate the text from the original language.

4. Diagram the text (either line or block). Understand the relationship of phrases and words to one another.

5. What is the major theme of the passage? 

6. Read available commentaries on the passage.

    • _____________________
    • _____________________
    • _____________________
    • _____________________
    • _____________________
    • _____________________

7. Outline the passage (Exegetical outline)

8. What is the doctrinal focus here? ________________

9. Form the preaching proposition.

10. Outline the proposition (Homiletical outline)

11. Clothe it with illustrations and applications.

12. Form introduction, conclusion and title.

Three Reasons to Preach Christ Crucified

/ Richard Bargas / 2 Comments

saving-drowning-man

“For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” (1Corinthians 1:18)

1. Because It is Not Popular (v. 18)

Not only is it not popular, it is moronic (moria in Greek). Consider the fact that the gospel of Jesus Christ demands that we say to sinners that a poor and humble Jewish man was God, and that he was nailed to a cross to die a criminals death despite his perfect innocence. We proclaim that this Man was not only a man, but that he is God in the flesh. That he is perfect and sinless and that he was born of a virgin. Furthermore, we proclaim that all of humanity is lost and that each individual man, woman and child is a wretched sinner. We proclaim that Christ is the only hope for humanity and that all other claims are lies from the pit of hell and all who seek salvation in any other name are doomed to eternal damnation. We proclaim that Jesus Christ has done all that is necessary for our salvation, and that he rejects all attempts to earn salvation on our own. He, being the King demands our allegiance and one day every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that He is Lord.

Brothers, when we proclaim this, the world will overwhelmingly reject us as fools of the worst kind. We will be called bigots, intolerant, and uneducated religious zealots. And that is why so many bow to the pressures and soften their message. Paul was keenly aware of the propensity of men to soften the blow of the gospel by using soothing words that made the hearer feel at ease. He said in 1Cor 2:1-5 that he purposely made it his aim to proclaim the unvarnished gospel of Jesus Christ crucified. Today, preachers everywhere are trying to make Jesus look cool. They are trying to make Christianity attractive. They are doing just what Paul avoided.

The cross was not cool. It was brutal and bloody.

The call of Christ is not popular. True Christianity will never court the world. But pastors will continue to attempt to make our precious faith more palatable in order to gain the popularity of the world. This is nothing but pride. Nobody should enter the ministry or the pulpit in order to make his own name great. Isaac Watts wrote, “When I survey the wondrous cross on which the Prince of glory died; My riches gain I count but loss, and pour contempt on all my pride.” PREACH CHRIST BECAUSE IT IS NOT POPULAR!

2. Because They Are Perishing (v. 18)

When we preach the message of the cross, the world sees it as folly because they do not see the danger to their souls. Sometimes they fail to see the danger because they do not see it in our eyes and do not hear it in our voices as we proclaim cold truth from our pulpits. Brothers, do you feel the truth of Hell? Do you remember the days when you were among the brood of vipers?  Do you recall that you were once a vessel prepared for destruction? Have you forgotten that you were on the precipice of the bottomless pit and you were ready in due time to slip into eternal fire separate from God to be tormented for all eternity? HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN?

When we remember our own dying state we will be quick to point people to the only remedy for their souls—the cross of Christ. When we remember that they are perishing, we will not care about their mocking and their cries for ear-tickling sermons—we will give them what we know they need. Wrote Thomas Brooks, “The damned shall live as long in hell as God himself shall live in heaven.” That fact alone should drive us to preach Christ crucified.

Check your hearts, brothers. Do you feel the terror of hell and do you cry out with Paul on Sunday mornings: (2Cor. 2:15-16) “For we (!) are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things?” PREACH CHRIST BECAUSE THEY ARE PERISHING!

3. Because It is the Power of God (v. 18)

Power in the pulpit. Power evangelism. Power encounters. Pastors want power. But the power of God is not found in the usual places. It is not found in business models or worldly philosophy (v. 22). It is not found in charismatic dramatics or signs and wonders (v. 22).  It isn’t found in confrontation with demons and the occult. The power of God was displayed on the cross, where God sent His Son to be crushed for our iniquities. Jesus became sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God! That is power!!!

Concerning the justification of God, John Calvin said, “Wherever the knowledge of it is taken away, the glory of Christ is extinguished, religion abolished, the Church destroyed, and the hope of salvation utterly overthrown.” This is the power of the cross. Why is the Church so weak and utterly incapable of making an impact in our nation? It has left this message behind and taken up the banners of politics, pop psychology, health and wealth, and so many other empty promises.

The Roman Catholic system, the Emerging movement, the Seeker Sensitive movement and the Liberal mainline denominations have all shown us what becomes of those who lay aside the cross of Christ. But it hasn’t stopped many men from flirting with those compromising  philosophies. Richard Baxter, “If a hardened heart is to be broken, it is not stroking but striking that must do it.” The only thing that can cut another stone is a diamond, the hardest gem on earth. In order to cut the hardest heart, we must use the sharpest tool. That is the gospel of Jesus Christ!

In Heb. 4:12 we are reminded, “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.”

Brothers, in our churches the temptation can be overwhelming to give up expository preaching in favor of sugar coated sermons that aim to please the itching ears of people. We reason in our hearts that once we have them in our churches we can preach the gospel to them, we just need to ease them into it. Don’t fall for this pragmatic lie! You are merely a tool in God’s hand. He uses you as His minister to wield His weapon of choice. You cannot change the soul of a man in any way. It is the Word of God preached—the Gospel alone that brings a sinner to his knees.

PREACH CHRIST BECAUSE THE MESSAGE OF THE CROSS IS YOUR ONLY POWER!

5 Words of Wisdom to Live By

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Old Bible

The other day I came across the first Bible that I purchased after coming to Christ. It’s old and worn with a cover that is coming off the spine. It served me well. As I looked through it, I found some notes from a sermon that I had heard that I had written in the back. I wish I knew who had spoken these words of wisdom, but there were so many godly men speaking truth into my life during this time that I don’t know who it would have been. Whoever the teacher may have been, the truth of those words still rings true.

  1. I must understand that God very much wants to communicate to me and control my life (Heb 1:1-2)
  2. I must approach the Bible knowing that God wants me to know truth and that he put it into writing (Ex. 24:14-16)
  3. I must have the conviction that although God used human authors that he also prevailed [upon] them, that what they wrote were the very words of God (1Cor 14:37)
  4. I must have the conviction that all of Scripture is given by inspiration of God (2Tim 3:16)
  5. I need to establish a daily pattern of reading & studying the Bible.
  6. I must read prayerful and with dependence on the Holy Spirit (1Jn 2:27)

Listening to the Lord Speak-Psalm 85:8 (Study Notes)

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Image

Summary: Having laid out his prayer reciting the past mercies of the Lord (vv. 1-3) and the present situation (vv. 4-7), the psalmist does what all followers of Christ need to do, he sits back and waits, listening for the voice of the Lord (v. 8). In this fast-paced, hectic world that we live in, stopping to listen to the Lord as He speaks to us in His Word through the Spirit is a difficult task. This lesson will seek to give practical ways in which we listen to the voice of the Lord from His Word, the Bible.

Lesson:

Stop and listen to the Lord (v. 8a; Ps 119:98-99)

  • Rom 12:2 – We need to be changed and renewed.
  • 1Kings 19:11-13 –We must stop and listen. The problem is not His speaking, but our listening. He will not normally force us to listen to him, but comes quietly and waits for us to listen.
  • “The reason we come away so cold from reading the Word is, because we do not warm ourselves at the fire of meditation.”[i]

Remove distractions

  • Environmental—Elijah (1Kings 19:1-13); Jesus (Matt 4:1-2, 12; 14:13, 23)
  • Business/busyness—Martha (Luke 10:38-41); Unnamed men (Luke 9:57-62)
  • Amusements—Time wasters (Eph 5:15-16; Matt 16:26)

Prepare your heart

  • Thankfulness and praise (Ps 95:2; 100:4)
  • Dependence (Ps 119:18; Jn 14:26)

Read small portions of Scripture slowly and methodically.

  • Slower is better.
  • Ps 1:2-3—Drawing up water and producing fruit is a slow and steady process.
  • Meditate on those passages. Meditation is rumination on truth. Illust. Cows chewing; tea bags steeping.
  • “Our age has been sadly deficient in what may be termed spiritual greatness. At the root of this is the modern disease of shallowness. We are all too impatient to meditate on the faith we profess….It is not the busy skimming over religious books or the careless hastening through religious duties which makes for a strong Christian faith. Rather, it is unhurried meditation on gospel truths and the exposing of our minds to these truths that yields the fruit of sanctified character.”[ii]
  • Read seeking to understand God’s message as it was intended for the original audience. You cannot understand what it means for you, until you understand what it means for “them.”
  • Having understood what God’s Word means, apply the meaning to your life with a heart of humble obedience (Josh 1:8; Jam 1:22-25; Heb 4:12-13).
  • “Take every word as spoken to yourselves. When the word thunders against sin, think thus: “God means my sins;” when it presseth any duty, “God intends me in this.” Many put off Scripture from themselves, as if it only concerned those who lived in the time when it was written; but if you intend to profit by the word, bring it home to yourselves: a good medicine will do no good, unless it be applied.”[iii]

[i] Thomas Watson, “How We May Read the Scriptures with Most Spiritual Profit,” in Puritan Sermons (1674; reprint, Wheaton IL: Richard Owen Roberts, 1981), vol. 2, 62.

[ii] Maurice Roberts, “O the Depth!” The Banner of Truth, July 1990, 2.

[iii] Watson, 65.