Tag Archives: theology

June 15, 2014 · 10:30

Father

Father

Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.(Genesis 2:24)

From the very beginning, when God created the first couple, the design purposed the propagation of the human race. “And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it” (Genesis 1:28, emphasis added). Note that God did not create Adam and Steve or Bev and Eve. Such a combination would not have yielded the desired effect that God purposed. The family unit and the survival of mankind demanded both a father and a mother.

God, in a very real sense, is the First Father and the Father of the human race – our Father. His love for His children – His creation – is first illustrated in the life of Abraham as he offers his only son in sacrifice to God (Genesis 22:1-18). Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob (Israel), Jacob the father of Judah, Judah the progenitor (father) of David, and David was the progenitor of the Lord Jesus Christ who would be the realization of the sacrifice portrayed by Abraham. The father is an important figure throughout Scripture and throughout history. In fact, God’s first “horizontal” commandment says, “Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee” (Exodus 20:12). Paul repeats this commandment in Ephesians 6:1-3.

Earthly parents are far from perfect, yet we have this assurance of our Heavenly Father, “When my father and my mother forsake me, then the LORD will take me up” (Psalm 27:10). “Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him” (Psalm 103:13). Yet even in their imperfection, we are exhorted to listen to the counsel of our fathers: “Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend to know understanding” (Proverbs 4:1). My father was not perfect, yet “I was my father’s son, tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother” (Proverbs 4:3). My Heavenly Father, encourages, “My son, keep thy father’s commandment, and forsake not the law of thy mother” (Proverbs 6:20). For “what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?” (Matthew 7:9-10). Human fathers may not always get it right, but any father who loves his child always has the best in mind for his children.

However, “There is a generation that curseth their father, and doth not bless their mother” (Proverbs 30:11). Indeed, Jesus said, “Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household” (Matthew 10:34-36, emphasis added). We may be experiencing that very thing now. “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God” (2 Timothy 3:1-3, emphasis added). This may be demonstrated in open rebellion or in passive aggressive behavior. Either way, the son has departed from the teachings of his father. To a father who loves his son, nothing can cause more heartache than a son who rejects his father’s teaching.

I am eternally grateful for my imperfect father, who despite his imperfections demonstrated (and still demonstrates) unwavering love for me. I learned much from my father – how to drive a car at the age of ten, how to throw a curve ball, how to work hard, how to respect authority, how to love. But the most important thing my father taught me was to love and trust God and to unquestionably trust in God’s Word. Those lessons have never failed me, and they are the lessons I would impart to my sons, who now have children of their own.

My pastor recently, in a Mother’s Day sermon, offered the following illustration. A prison warden thought it would be good to offer all inmates that wanted a Mother’s Day card with free postage to be sent to the prisoner’s mother. Without exception, every single inmate took him up on the offer. The warden was so impressed with the success of the exercise that he thought he would do the same for Father’s Day. To his surprise, not a single inmate took him up on the offer. Fathers are important, but even when our earthly fathers fail us, our Heavenly Father never, never fails us. He is “A father of the fatherless,” (Psalm 68:5).

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June 8, 2014 · 10:30

Is the Law Sin?

The Law

What shall we say then? Is the law sin? (Romans 7:7)

In recent years I have heard Christians reject the Old Testament as if it no longer applies. One young man tattooed the inside of his left arm with: ουδεν αρα νυν κατακριμα τοις εν χριστω ιησου. In case you do not read Koine Greek, it says, “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 8:1, NASB). This reading is translated from the liberal Westcott-Hort Greek New Testament. That text omits the phrase: μη κατα σαρκα περιπατουσιν αλλα κατα πνευμα – “who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit” (Romans 8:1, KJV). This additional phrase is included in the Textus Receptus Greek New Testament from which the KJV is translated. (Bear with me; there is a point to this.) When I pointed out the biblical prohibition against tattoos (Leviticus 19:28) to this young man, a seminary student at the time, he lashed out at me pointing out that we are not under Law, but under Grace. Then when I pointed out the missing phrase in his tattoo, he lashed out against the King James Bible. Hmm! The missing phrase “who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit” suddenly takes on greater significance. Perhaps the compilers of the Westcott-Hort Greek New Testament did not like that phrase either.

So Paul asks an important question: “Is the Law Sin?” Judging from this seminary student’s reaction the answer must be, “Yes!” But what does Paul say? “God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet” (Romans 7:7, emphasis added). So, where do we get the idea that we are to disregard the Law contained in the Old Testament? Jesus quoted from the Old Testament exclusively. Of course, that was all that existed at the time, but He never gave any indication that it no longer applied. In like manner, all the New Testament writers referred constantly to the Old Testament and never hinted that it was passé. In writing to Timothy, Paul affirms that “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16, emphasis added). When he penned these words, there was no New Testament, only the Old. Instead of rejecting the Law, Paul says that “the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good” (Romans 7:12).

Salvation does not come through the keeping of the Law. That is impossible. “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all” (James 2:10). We know that “by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works [of the law], lest any man should boast” (Ephesian 2:8-9, emphasis added). So, does the Law serve any purpose? Paul seems to think so. “Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful” (Romans 7:13, emphasis added). The purpose of the law is to shine a spotlight on what is sin.

The Christian is saved by Grace, not by attempting to keep the Law (which is impossible to do), but the Law should be to the Christian a guide as to what God regards as sinful. God wants His children to be holy – set apart from the world, and the Law guides us to what pleases God. Can we keep the law flawlessly? Probably not, but we have the assurance that “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). But how can we confess, if we do not know that we sinned? The Law helps us see that.

That young seminary student thought his tattoo would be a great witnessing tool. I venture to say (although I do not know for sure) that his tattoo has not helped him lead a single person to Christ. Perhaps, if he had taken to heart the omitted qualifying phrase in Romans 8:1 – “who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit” – he would not have violated the commandment against tattoos. I do not question the young man’s salvation, and I fully understand his motive however misguided; but when Paul said, “I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some” (1 Corinthians 9:22), I doubt that he meant for us to go out and get tattoos in order to win over tattooed people.

Is the Law sin? No, but it serves to show us what sin is and what we should avoid. God does not change (Malachi 3:6), and He has always expected holiness from His people. “But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy” (1 Peter 1:15-16). The Law is not sin; it reveals sin. The Law should be heeded, not disregarded.

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June 1, 2014 · 20:58

Everyone’s A Slave

No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. (Matthew 6:24)

In America, at least for the moment, we consider ourselves to be a free people. After all, we have the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights – the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution. While this may be true in a temporal, earthly sense, it is not so in an eternal, ethereal sense. We are all slaves to something.

Jesus simplifies the slave masters down to two in our verse above. “Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” Mammon was the Aramaic term meaning “riches” or “money,” but the term can be broadened to all the trappings of this world. Anything that demands your time and your devotion is your master. “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?” (Romans 6:16, emphasis added). Many, including Christians, deny that they are slaves to “sin” (i.e., Mammon), but they are self-deceived. This is very easy to prove. It always comes to a choice between the things of God or the things of this world. When confronted with the choice between going to church or Bible study (group or personal) and your favorite diversion, e.g., watching your favorite sports game, watching a favorite TV show or going to a movie, going fishing, boating, or camping, taking the kids to their soccer game, or dance recital, which one comes out on top? None of the things that I listed are necessarily sinful, except when given a superior position to the things of God. Of course, I could have listed really “sinful” choices, but Paul’s exhortation was given to Christians not to “heathen.” If Christians can be enslaved by the things of this world, how much more the non-Christian who is without the power of the Holy Spirit!

The Christian should be guided by a different standard. Paul says that the Christian, “Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants [slaves] of righteousness” (Romans 6:18). Being a “slave of righteousness” (i.e., slaves of God) for the Christian should not be a difficult task. If it is, that one should reevaluate his standing before God. Jesus said, “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:29-30). Strange that Jesus should use a yoke as an illustration. Certainly the reader has seen pictures of yoke of oxen pulling a plow or a cart. The yoke that binds the two oxen together for the purpose of pulling a heavy load does not look “easy.” In training oxen to pull a load, a young, inexperienced ox is yoked to an older, experienced ox. The young ox will fight the load, but gradually learns from the older. In the interim, the older ox bears most of the load while the younger is learning. Jesus assures us that “[His] yoke is easy and [His] burden is light” because He “was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15). He bears the greater load, and as we learn from Him, our load becomes easier to bear; but He must be the Master.

Everyone is a slave to something. You have the choice of who will be master of your life.

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April 20, 2014 · 12:00

What’s Special About Sunday?

In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week ... (Matthew 28:1)

In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week … (Matthew 28:1)

And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun. (Mark 16:2)

Why should Christians worship on Sunday instead of Saturday as do the Jews and certain other “Christian” denominations? After all, in fourth of the Ten Commandments, God specifically says, “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it” (Exodus 20:8-11). So, are we in violation of God’s commandment by worshiping on Sunday?

First of all, let me say that setting aside one day of the week for rest and worship is right and proper whether that day be Friday, Saturday, or Sunday or any day of the week for that matter.  “One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind” (Romans 14:5).

Much of the confusion comes with the interpretation of the word “Sabbath” in the Bible.  The word in the Hebrew does not mean “seventh” (shebəiʽi), but rather “rest” or “to rest” (shebbot).  Genesis 2:2 tells us that “on the shebəiʽi day God ended his work which he had made; and he shebbot on the shebəiʽi day from all his work which he had made.”  Translating that seventh day to mean Saturday “assumes” that God began His creative acts on Sunday, and we really have no textual basis for that conclusion other than what has been handed down to us by Jewish tradition – that, however, is not to say that this tradition is in error.  Furthermore, as you study the “Feasts of the Lord” given in Exodus and Leviticus, you find that each of those days is considered a shebbot (Sabbath) regardless of what day of the week it falls on.  So, we need to be careful not to become dogmatic over things on which the Bible is unclear.  However, it is clear that we need to “sanctify” – set aside – one day a week for the Lord.

Today, on Resurrection Day, we celebrate our Lord’s victory over death. (See “Risen Indeed,” where I cover the facts of the Resurrection.) The Resurrection is significant for us who believe because we have the promise that because Christ conquered death, we too can be assured of a resurrection to eternal life. “But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain … But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.” (1 Corinthians 15:13-14, 20). Today we rejoice in Christ’s resurrection and look forward to our own resurrection to be with Him eternally.

In the New Testament, the first Jewish Christians went to the temple or synagogue on the Sabbath (Acts 13:14; 17:2; 18:4) for the sake of the Jews, but they also met on the First Day of the week (Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 16:2) because this was “the Lord’s Day” and also for the sake of the Gentiles which were not obligated to follow Jewish custom (Colossians 2:16). The reason for this change is because this is when Christ was raised from the dead (Matthew 28:1, Mark 16:2; Luke 24:1; John 20:1).

The First Day of the week was also the day that the Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples gathered in the upper room (Acts 2:1). Scripture does not specify the day of the week, but when you consider that Jesus arose on the first day of the week and count forward 50 days (the Day of Pentecost) you will find that day to be Sunday also. The day that Jesus arose was the “First Omer” (Nisan 16) and the Day of Pentecost was the “50th Omer (Sivan 6). Not only were these days important on the Jewish calendar, but they have even greater significance in the Christian calendar. For this reason, it is proper that Christians should meet on the First Day of the week to celebrate the Risen Lord and the coming of the Holy Spirit.

 So, as you celebrate this Resurrection Lord’s Day, remember why it is so special. He is risen indeed!

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April 13, 2014 · 12:00

A King On A Donkey

 

Hosanna!

Hosanna!

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass. (Zechariah 9:9)

Passover was just a few days away. Jerusalem buzzed with activity. Jews from all parts of the Roman world made the pilgrimage to the Judean capitol to celebrate the first of three Feasts of the Lord that required mandatory attendance by every Jewish male (Deuteronomy 16:16). In spite of Roman oppression, this was a time of celebration as everyone anticipated the promised king that would deliver them and restore Israel’s former greatness. “Perhaps this year,” they thought.

To this cacophony of festivities entered the unassuming King of Kings. Daniel had prophesied this event more than 483 years before. “Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined” (Daniel 9:25-26). Today the prophecy appeared – lowly, and riding upon a donkey’s foal as prophesied by Zechariah. Even this unnoticed act was miraculous. A foal is a donkey (or horse) that is not yet a year old. This one, a colt (male), had never been ridden (Mark 11:2; Luke 19:30). Surely anyone reading this knows what happens when a donkey, horse or mule is mounted for the first time, but not so here. “And they brought him [the colt] to Jesus: and they cast their garments upon the colt, and they set Jesus thereon. And as he went, they spread their clothes in the way” (Luke 19:35-36). Somehow, that little animal understood the significance of the rider. He was carrying the Creator, the One who said, “Take my yoke upon you … For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:29-30).

Thus Jesus entered His city to present Himself as the “Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6). A conqueror would have entered upon a white charger parading his conquests before him, but a king who comes in peace enters in on a mule or a donkey (1 Kings 1:30-40). As Jesus made His way into the city, the crowd thronged Him singing the words of the psalm “Hosanna!” meaning “Save now!” “Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the LORD” (Psalm 118:25-26). Who knows if the mob understood the significance of the psalm or of the Man to whom they sang? When the religious leaders compelled Jesus to silence the crowd (for they understood very well the significance of the words), “he answered and said unto them, I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out” (Luke 19:40).

Interesting that at the first Passover, when the children of Israel were in Egypt, Moses required each family to take an unblemished lamb into their home at the first of the month. This lamb would become endeared to the family, and then on the fourteenth of the month, the lamb would be slain and its blood painted on the door posts of the house (Exodus 12:1-12). Now the Lamb of God entered the house of Israel to be sacrificed for the sins of the world. All things foreordained “from the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13:8). Thus Messiah, the King on a donkey, presented Himself only to be “despised and rejected of men” (Isaiah 53:3). Soon the Passover Lamb would be “cut off” (Daniel 9:26).

The King will return. When He returns, His mount will not be a lowly donkey, but a mighty, white steed. “And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war … And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS. (Revelation 19:11, 16) – no longer a King on a donkey.

Hallelujah! “Even so, come, Lord Jesus!” (Revelation 22:20)

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