Examples Encourage

Of Hezekiah, it is written, “He trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel…He did not depart from following Him, but kept the commandments…And the LORD was with him; wherever he went out, he prospered” (2 Kings 18, ESV)
When his people and his life was threatened, he prayed, “So now, O LORD our God, save us, please, from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, O LORD, are God alone” (2 Kings 19)
O God, thank you for the example of Hezekiah, and your glorious salvation brought to us through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

New Year’s Opportunity

Do you want this year to be a blessed one?  “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord [Scripture] and on His law he meditates day and night.  He will be like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither; and in whatever he does, he prospers.” Psalm 1:1-3

God has provided the way of blessing, will you try it His way in 2013?

Church Membership Part 8 – Jesus, Peter, and the Keys of the Kingdom

Tags

Church, Church Membership, Matthew 16

Step 2:  Jesus established the church on the foundation of the Apostles and their true confession and gave them the authority to pass judgment on who is and who is not in the kingdom.

In Matthew 16 Jesus gives the authority to say who is and is not in the kingdom to the Apostles.  Jesus is with His disciples in Philippi and he asks them “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” (16:13).

And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” (16:14-16).

Peter’s response is not just true, it identifies him as member of the Kingdom of heaven. This is because Peter’s words are not empty.  They are evidence of a life of submission to Christ’s authority.  Notice Jesus response to that statement.  Jesus does not say, “Great Peter, I’m glad somebody finally figured it out.”  Nor does Jesus shut down the conversation and say, “I’m glad you have a personal relationship me now, let me lead you in the sinners prayer.”  Jesus takes Peter’s Confession and ties it to something much greater and much larger that Jesus is about to do through Peter and through the Apostles, namely the establishment of the church.

And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” (Matthew 16:17-19)

Notice three things in this text.  First, Peter’s Confession is of supernatural origin.  This confession does not come about because one day Peter got his act together and started thinking rightly. Jesus says this confession comes not from flesh and blood but because the Father in Heaven is supernaturally revealing to Peter this truth. We see that the church is not something that the Apostles decided to make-up because it might be good for your spiritual health.  This is something the Father Himself is doing through Christ, creating a kingdom on earth made of people who have been supernaturally brought to submit to the Lordship of Christ. 

Second, Jesus promises to build His church on this “rock.”  The rock is Peter and His Confession.  Jesus is saying that He will build His church and He is going to do so on the Apostles as they accurately confess the identity of Jesus. 

Third, Jesus is authenticating Peter’s Confession as from the Father.  Jesus is acting as the border guard of the kingdom.  Jesus is standing in judgment over Peter and saying, “Yes, Peter, that is right, you are in the kingdom. What you say comes from the kingdom of heaven.”

But notice Jesus does not stop there:

            I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” (Matthew 16:19)

            Jesus hands to Peter, and the Apostles that he [Peter] is representing, the “keys of the kingdom of heaven” and the authority “to bind and loose.”  Now this statement can be confusing because we are unfamiliar with the Biblical background of words like “keys, binding, and loosing” or we are fearful of this text because of the ways it has been abused by Roman Catholics.  When Jesus hands to the Apostles the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven that is a symbol of having the authority of the kingdom.  They stand as gatekeepers, with the authority to pronounce who is in and who is out of the kingdom based on their profession, just as Jesus has done with Peter.  Jesus has created a connection between Heaven and Earth in the apostles as the foundation of the church.  What they bind and loose, that is what they declare in and out of the kingdom, is what is going on in heaven.

Essentially the Apostles are given the authority to act as the press agents of heaven.  Jesus does not give them authority to save people but to announce on behalf of Heaven who is saved.  They can stand before the confessions of others and just like Jesus has done with Peter, say to them, “yes, that is of heaven, that has come from the Father,” Or “No, that is not from Heaven.”  The Apostles have Heaven’s authority for declaring who on earth is a kingdom citizen and therefore represents the church. (See Jonathan Leeman, Church Membership).  Jesus is here establishing the universal church on the apostles and giving the church authority to receive and dismiss members, to stand as judge over who is and who is not in the kingdom.  The authority of the keys is the authority to assess a person’s gospel words and deeds and to render a judgment/verdict.

5 Questions with Dr. Travis Kerns

Dr. Travis Kerns (Ph.D, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) will be teaching during Louisville Indian Fellowship at Hopewell, September 9, 16, and 23, at 6:00 PM. He is the professor of apologetics at Boyce College of Southern Seminary. He was kind enough to share his thoughts and background for our blog.

1)  Could you share a little bit about your personal testimony and how you ended up at Boyce College?

I was raised in a Christian home in the upstate of South Carolina and was led to Christ by my dad when I was about 8 years old.  We felt called to Louisville for seminary at Southern in June of 2001.  After finishing the MDiv and beginning the PhD program in 2004, I started teaching at Boyce College in 2005 and have been teaching at Boyce since that time.  In 2011, I began teaching at the Masters level for the Billy Graham School of Missions and Evangelism at Southern and overseeing doctoral students for the Graham School as well.

 2) How would you describe/define “apologetics” to someone who had never heard the word before?

2) Although the word “apologetics” sound like an apology, being sorry for something or someone, it is really the opposite.  In Greek, the original language of the NT, the word “apologia” simply means “a defense.”  So, apologetics is the defense of Christianity against attacks from non-Christians and the answering of the questions of Christians about their own faith.

3) Why should the average Christian, sitting in a pew on a Sunday morning, even be concerned about apologetics? 

The average Christian in the pew on Sundays should be concerned about apologetics because the Bible demands that followers of Jesus be active in answering the questions of skeptics.  1 Peter 3:15 is the main text commanding us to engage in apologetics.  Peter tells Christians to “always be ready to give a defense to anyone who asks you about the hope in you, yet with gentleness and respect.”

4) How should the local church be involved in apologetics?

The local church can be involved in apologetics through individual members own apologetic efforts with non-Christians or through an organized effort of the entire body. Anytime the local church is involved in evangelism, apologetics is taking place. Whenever we give a reason for non-Christians to follow Jesus, we are engaging in apologetics. Christians do that very thing anytime they practice evangelism. This may
be needless to say, but the Bible is filled with commands to engage in evangelism, thus, the Bible is filled with commands to engage in apologetics.

5) What are three books on apologetics that every Christian should read?

The first book every Christian should read when thinking through the issue of apologetics is the book of Acts in the NT. Throughout the book, Luke records the evangelistic / apologetic efforts of the early Christians, and Peter’s sermon in Acts coupled with Paul’s sermon in Acts 17 are Spirit-led examples of the ways we should practice apologetics.

The second book every Christian should read in the area of apologetics is
“Mere Christianity” by CS Lewis. His style of writing and wit are unmatched in modern Christianity and his defense of basic Christian truths is very helpful.

The third book every Christian should read in the area of apologetics is “Cur Deus Homo?”, or “Why the God-man?”, by Anselm. This work explains, from a biblical and theological perspective why a God-man is necessary for Christianity to make sense. Anselm’s work is old, but is very applicable to our current culture. The issue of the deity/humanity of Jesus is a huge question that most unbelievers want to discuss, and Anselm’s work answers the most basic of questions.

Church Membership Part 7 – The Kingdom of Christ

Tags

Church, Kingdom, Membership

            Now we come to the heart of the Bible’s teaching on church membership.  What does the Bible have to say about church membership?  It may be more shocking and more wonderful than we realize.  I submit the following four steps to arrive at a Biblical understanding of church membership.

Step 1:  Jesus came not merely to have personal relationships with disconnected people, but to establish a kingdom (a redeemed community submitting to His Lordship) over which He reigns as king.

This is in fact one of the primary themes of the New Testament.  The Kingdom of God established by Christ is mentioned over 150 times in the New Testament, most of them from Jesus Himself.  Jesus does not come merely to forgive sins.  He comes also to establish a kingdom: the kingdom of God that comes from Heaven to Earth in the person of Jesus Christ.  A kingdom where righteousness dwells, a kingdom where he reigns as king, where God’s will is done on earth as it is in heaven.  Jesus life, death, and resurrection is in order to redeem people, forgive people, renew people, and then make those people into a New Covenant, Kingdom community.

Even though we will not fully experience this kingdom until the resurrection, Jesus says that kingdom of heaven has already infiltrated our world.  He has already established it.  Some of the very first words out of Jesus mouth in the Gospel of Matthew are “Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven has come.” (Matt. 4:8)  The Gospel preached by Jesus is called the “Gospel of the kingdom” (Matt 4:23).  Our salvation is described as a transfer of kingdom citizenship.  Paul says, that when Christ saves us we are “delivered from the domain of darkness and transferred into the Kingdom of His beloved Son” (Col. 1:13).  Jesus mission is not merely to have personal relationships with disconnected people, but to purchase people with His blood and make them citizens of His kingdom.

But there is one big problem:  Anyone could claim to be a part of this kingdom.  This kingdom is for the repentant, the poor in Spirit, those who have trusted in Christ and submitted to His Lordship.  They are united to Christ and now represent their king in the world.  But in a global kingdom without borders and flags and land, who is going to exercise border patrol?  Who is going to differentiate between true Kingdom Citizens and Terrorists?  How can we tell who are the true citizens under the authority of Christ and who are the fake citizens who are there to usurp Christ’s authority and bring shame and dishonor to the kingdom.

Of course, the answer is: the King Himself can know.  Christ can judge what is in the heart of man.  He can tell who is in the kingdom and who is not.  He can tell who is saved and who is not.  But (some say) we cannot judge anyone’s heart.  We don’t have the authority to make those type of judgment calls.  And of course, it is true, only the King can make that type of judgment call; unless He gives that authority to a representative.  Which is exactly what we will see happens in Matthew 16 where Jesus gives that authority to the church.

Because You Do Not Ask

In James 4:1-4, the Apostle makes a direct and explicit connection between sinful conflict amongst believers and raging war of desires inside each individual Christian. But notice more: The ultimate reason why these raging desires are uncontrolled is because we do not ask Christ. “You do not have because you do not ask.”

Ask what? Not for Christ to enable us to pursue sinful, selfish desires. If we ask with that motive–and we probably do that more often than we know–we are among those who “ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, that you may spend it on your pleasures.” So when we ask Christ, we are to ask not for what we can spend on our own lusts and deceitful desires. What, then, should we ask for?

There’s a clue in the Gospel of John. Talking to the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well, Jesus says to her, “If you knew the gift of God and whom it was speaking to you, you would ask him and he would give you living water.” (John 4:10)  Jesus is saying: If you realized who I am, you would realize that it is not I who need water, but you–and if you realized why I am here, you would not hesitate to ask, and I would not hesitate to give.

The woman did not ask Jesus for living water because she did not realize that the Fountain of Living Water was speaking to her.

We know from the rest of the narrative that physical thirst was not this woman’s supreme problem. She was an adulteress whose “thirst” was moving her to drink from endless fountains that never satisfied. So Jesus does not enable her to continue this. Instead, the living water of Jesus she offers focuses on Him. The living water of Jesus is not mainly about us, but mainly about him. He is the living water. All that God is for us in Christ Jesus is the only water that will satisfy permanently.

According to Scripture, a real cause of sinful conflict is unquenched spiritual thirst. The reason we do not experience the satisfying living water of Jesus is because we do not ask Him, and the reason we do not ask Him is because we do not know who He is. As John Piper puts it, “There is a direct correlation between not knowing God and not asking much of him.” When we know Christ–truly know that the Master of the Universe, whose purpose cannot be thwarted and whose word will stand forever–we instinctively go to Him. We go to him for our daily bread, yes, but firstly the kingdom of God and His righteousness. The people hungry and thirsty for righteousness will be filled, and will be satisfied, forever.

So know Christ. Then ask him for His living water. Then serve others out of the overflow.

Church Membership Part 6 – Why Does Church Membership Exist?

At the center of the Bible, at the very heart of the Gospel, is that God has one ultimate aim: To put his glory on display in every square inch of this world.  One of the primary means God has chosen to put His glory on display is through a community of the redeemed, called the local church.

Listen to the words of Isaiah 43:6-7: “Bring My sons from afar and My daughters from the ends of the earth, everyone who is called by My name, and whom I have created for My glory.”  You were created by God and you were redeemed (that is called by the name of God – “Christian”) for God’s glory.  That’s why you were created and that’s why you were called…so that God would made much of in this world!  You were redeemed so that God would make a name for Himself and magnify all of excellencies of His glory!  That’s why you were made, that’s why you were saved!

 

We will see that the Bible teaches us that one of the chief ways God has chosen to put His glory on display is through a community of the redeemed called the local church.  Which means the local church and church membership is at the very heart of what God is doing for His name in this world.  You were created and saved for this very thing.  Church membership is no trivial thing.  It is not merely names on an irrelevant list.  It is at the very heart of your Christian Life and at the very heart of God’s self-exalting mission in the world!

Church Membership Part 5 – Membership in the Early Church

As we have pointed out before, Church membership is nothing new.  It was not created by man, it was instituted by Christ Himself because Christ created the church.  So it should not be surprising to find the Apostles and the early church faithfully and diligently practicing both church membership and church discipline.

Of course in the book of Acts that is exactly what we see.  In Acts 2:41, Luke records that those who accepted the message of Peter’s preaching were baptized into membership of the church at Jerusalem.  We know the Apostles were counting and keeping clear membership records because it explictly states that “three thousand” were “added” to their number.  These were not just disconnected Christians who had a personal relationship with Jesus but no relationship with each other.  Rather, these believers were meeting together in temple courts and in small groups in each others homes throughout the week (2:46).  In Acts 4:4 the membership of the Jerusalem church grows to about five thousand – again, this is something the writer of Acts could not possibly know unless someone at the Jerusalem church was keeping a membership role.

Lest we think the Apostles were only concerned about padding their numbers and building the first mega-church, we find in Acts chapter 5 that the Apostles not only practiced church membership but also church discipline.  Peter confronts Ananias and Sapphira for living in unrepentant sin.  The result is not only that they are removed from the membership of the church, but in this instance God actually kills them.

Finally, in chapter 6 we see that a local church apoints deacons so that they can more fully serve the catalog of widows that were also members of that same local church.  Obviously, if the Apostles were appointing one group of their members to serve another group of members they must have had a pretty clear idea of who their members were.

So what do we see in all this?

First, the early church, led by Christ’s Apostles, kept a clear record of membership.

Second, the apostles employed biblical standards of Membership – Faith, Repentance, and Baptism

Third, the apostles practiced church discipline when members did not produce the fruit of the Gospel (namely continuing in faith and repentance).

Fourth, Christian leaders were made responsible for specific sheep, namely those that were members of their same local church.

Christ’s Apostles were the first to faithfully practice church membership and discipline.  May we follow after their example.

Church Membership Part 4 – Symptoms of Wrong Thinking

How can we tell if we have been infected by the spirit of our age and we have begun to think about the church in a worldly fashion rather than according to the Biblical model.  Jonathan Leeman offers us the following very helpful list of symptoms of wrong thinking about the church in his book Church Membership.  I have been guilty of some of these myself.  If you have thought patterns about the church that resemble the types of statements below then you probably need to reconsider what the Bible teaches about the local church and church membership.

• Christians can think it’s fine to attend a church indefinitely without joining;
• Christians think of getting baptized apart from joining;
• Christians take the Lord’s Supper without joining;
• Christians view the Lord’s Supper as their own private, mystical experience for Christians and not as an activity for church members who are incorporated into body life together;
• Christians don’t integrate their Monday-to-Saturday lives with the lives of other saints;
• Christians assume they can make a perpetual habit of being absent from the church’s gathering a few Sundays a month or more;
• Christians make major life decisions (moving, accepting a promotion, choosing a spouse, etc.) without considering the effects of those decisions on the family of relationships in the church or without consulting the wisdom of the church’s pastors and other members;
• Christians buy homes or rent apartments with scant regard for how facts such as distance and cost will affect their abilities to serve their church;
• Christians don’t realize that they are partly responsible for both the spiritual welfare and the physical livelihood of the other members of their church, even members they have not met.  When one mourns, one mourns by himself.  When one rejoices, one rejoices by herself.

Leeman concludes, “the basic disease behind all of these symptoms, the disease which, I admit, courses through my own veins, is the assumption that we have the authority to conduct our Christian lives on our own.  We include the church piece when and where we please” (Jonathan Leeman, Church Membership:  How the World Knows Who Represents Jesus, 23-24).

Spiritual Disciplines Conference!

1 Timothy 4:7 states, “Discipline yourself for the purpose of Godliness.”  The Christian life requires discipline. God calls us to be disciplined in prayer, in Bible reading, in fasting, and in Scriptural meditation.

 

But we all know that discipline is hard….very hard.  Hopewell Baptist Church wants to help you in your walk with the Lord and your use of the means of grace.  We want to come alongside of you as a fellow laborer and help you as seek to have communion with God in prayer and Bible Meditation.

 

For that reason we want to let you know about a special one day Spiritual Disciplines conference to be held at Hopewell Baptist Church on Saturday, September 8.  Our special guest will be Dr. Don Whitney, author ofSpiritual Disciplines of the Christian Life and Professor of Biblical Spirituality at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

 

This conference will be held from 9.15AM – 2PM in the sanctuary of Hopewell Baptist Church.  Lunch will be provided.

Please join us as we seek to honor our Savior by being discipled in prayer and Bible meditation.