Colossians 1-2

1
Paul thanks God for the Colossians' faith, hope and love.
He names the one who taught them the Gospel first & points to their growth in it for encouragement.
May you please God, who has called you out of darkness, into His light.
We have redemption and forgiveness in Jesus His Son, through Whom God created all things.
I Paul am a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  I suffer to bring this message to Gentiles

2
I work hard to make Christ known, for full assurance and wisdom in you.
Don't let anyone lead you away from Him by empty philosophy, or back to Judaism.  He is the fullness of deity.  You don't need circumcision if you are in Christ.  Your debt of guilt is paid.  No ruler or angelic power has anything over you.  No one should judge you about food or drink or feasts or Sabbaths.  You don't have to worship angels or submit to ascetic regulations.  These last don't even help check sinful desires.


How this is about Jesus
Here are some of the strongest and most exalting words about Christ you will find anywhere.
He is the fullness of God in bodily form.
He holds the universe together.  It was all made through Him and FOR Him.


Application
Paul's great burden is to see these new believers hold fast to Christ, and not get stuck with what C.S. Lewis calls "Christianity and..."  He warns them away from false teachers with a list of things the Colossian Christians don't have to do.
This takes wisdom to sift through teaching you hear, and not take up obligations that teachers impose on you, if they aren't found in the Bible.

Jeremiah 15-17

15
Not even Moses or Samuel could intercede to stop the punishment coming for Manasseh's sins.
Although I will plunder and bereave you, if you return to Me I will restore you afterward.

16
Don't marry now, for the people will die of famine, plague and war.
For their idolatry I throw them out of the land.  But then I will bring them back, fishing and hunting for them one by one.  Then they will know I am God.

17
Judah's sin is written in iron before Me, while they keep sinning on the hills.
The one who trusts man is cursed, and won't last.  The one who trusts God is blessed and prospers.
God searches and knows our heart and mind.
Jeremiah prays for deliverance from those who oppose and mock him by asking where the fulfillment of his prophecies is.
God has Jeremiah stand in the city gate and call out to everyone to stop bearing burdens through these gates on the Sabbath.


How this is about Jesus
His first act of ministry is to call fishers of men - 16:16.


Application
Ch. 16 - As 1 Corinthians 7:26ff teaches, there are times when marriage wouldn't be prudent given the political upheaval coming.  Jeremiah gets a direct command by unique and special revelation to this effect.
Ch. 17 - It's interesting to me that with such large scale issues Jeremiah is addressing, like idolatry and impending invastion, God also calls the people to task for breaking the Sabbath.  Hmm...


"Our fathers have inherited nothing but lies, worthless things in which there is no profit" - 16:19.

"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?  I the LORD search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds" - 17:9-10.

Jeremiah 9-10, 14

9
Weep and lament for Israel.  They all deceive each other and go after the Baals.
I will destroy them - death will come upon them.
Don't boast in your wisdom or riches, but in knowing God.
He will punish those circumcised only outwardly, and the uncircumcised.

10
Don't follow the way of the nations, who make idols from wood and stone that can't do anything.
God made the heavens and earth, and brings lightning, earthquake and rain.
Israel is spiritually stupid and devastated because of this, and I will send an invader to finish the job.

14
God sent a drought - even the cisterns are empty.  God is punishing them for their sins.
The prophets saying there will be peace and security are lying - I didn't send them.
Warfare and famine are coming, not healing.


How this is about Jesus
It is the call of the prophet to get God's people to see themselves rightly - how they have sinned against God.  Jesus did this in His teaching ministry, being especially hard on the rulers and leaders.


Application
There is a time when we have sinned and it is too late to avoid consequences.  Not too late to repent and receive mercy, but you often have to harvest what you plant.


"I know, O LORD, that the way of man is not in himself, that it is not in man who walks to direct his steps.  Correct me, O LORD, but in justice; not in your anger, lest you bring me to nothing" - 10:23-24.

On Elders

I'm studying for a sermon on elders.  I'll probably have a lot more of these in the next few days.


"Many devout, Christian men are not multi-gifted leaders, nor are they well suited to singularly lead a congregation effectively.  But when placed in a leadership body, these same men excel and make important contributions.  (I believe the vast majority of traditional pastors fit into this category.  This is why they are so severely criticized by the congregation and thus move on to another pastorate after five or six years.)  Page 20

With biblical eldership "an exceptionally gifted leader can lead and teach with all his zeal and might, yet he is subject to his fellow leaders and brothers who jointly lead and guide the congregation.  Biblical eldership provides necessary protection from the all-too-common pitfalls of egoism and personality imbalance."  Page 22

Puritans on Perseverance of Saints

Part 5 - Soteriology
Chapter 38 - Perseverance of the Saints

The certainty of our perseverance.
Jus as Christ finished His work FOR us, He will finish His work IN us.  Jude 1, 1 Peter 1:3-5, Proverbs 24:16, Philippians 1:3-6, and even Leviticus 25:23 all show this doctrine.  "Once saved, always saved" is misleading, though technically true.  People do fall from a profession of faith (so we see apostasy), but not from saving grace and from the possession of true faith.  Rome contradicts this, asserting that we lose our justification when we sin mortally and regain it with penance.

Objections to perseverance
1. Hebrews 6:1-4 and 10:26-39 and experience show us that falling from grace is real.
No, professors of faith are not all elect.
2. Scripture calls us to keep ourselves in the faith, so it must be up to us.
No, "obligation does not entail ability" (605).  Our duty and God's grace do not displace each other.  Both are at work at the same time.
3. People won't be motivated to holiness if they really believe in total assurance.
No, knowing true grace and this assurance motivates holiness, and we are preserved precisely INTO holiness.

Grounds of perseverance
Persevering to the end depends on God holding us, not us holding Him (John 10:28-29).
The Father's love electing, the Son's work purchasing and the Spirit's indwelling interceding (Eph. 1:13-14) all bring assurance, as does the covenant of grace (Isaiah 55:3; 2 Samuel 23:5).

Difficulty of perseverance
True believers slip and fall IN the way without leaving it for good.  David and Peter did this, while Judas fell from fellowship finally.  God heals the former kind of backsliding (Hosea 14:4), but not the latter.

Necessity of perseverance
We must persevere to the end or we will not be saved.

Means of perseverance
Beeke and Jones lay out the two classic areas of Puritan application: the diligent use of the means of grace, and maintaining a good conscience.

Jeremiah 11-12, 7-8, 26

11
Israel will not listen to Me, so I will not listen to them.  Do not even pray for them!
They have conspired together to disobey Me.
They also threaten Jeremiah with death if he continues prophesying these things.

12
Why do the wicked prosper, Lord?
God: is this all you can take?  Much worse is coming on Israel soon (and you).
I will uproot any nation that disobeys Me, including Israel.

7
You trusting in the physical temple to save you while you go on unrepentant in your sins.
You even burn your infants as sacrifices to idols.

8
Judgment is coming and Israel isn't ready for it, nor are they ready to repent.

26
Jeremiah predicts the destruction of the temple and city, while standing in the temple.  The rulers arrest him and try him under the death sentence.  He sticks to his guns, claiming God told him to speak, and warning they would be spilling innocent blood.  They let him go.  A nobleman Ahikam protects Jeremiah.  Another prophet wasn't so lucky - the king killed him for saying the same things Jeremiah said.


How this is about Jesus
He prophesies at the temple, too, lamenting Israel's coming demise.
He takes cover under no nobleman, but allows His own death.


Application
1. We tend to trust some physical thing as a substitute for our trust in God.  For Israel, that was the temple.  For us it may be something else.
2. God often uses very practical and earthly ways to reform His church.  Luther had Elector Frederick protecting him.  Jeremiah had Ahikam.

Jeremiah 1-6

1
God calls Jeremiah, who objects that he is young and can't speak well.  No, God says, you'll go and speak.  Disaster is coming from the north - warn them.  They won't like it and will fight you, but don't be dismayed.

2
Remember how you loved me at the time of the Exodus.  What did I do for you to leave Me, defile My land, run after other gods, and claim you are innocent?  Your guilt remains.

3
You ran after idols in your hillside orgies.  When I called you to repent, Judah was more treacherous than Israel.  Return and I will restore you.  Israel: "we have sinned and done shameful things."

4
Repent from your heart and do right.  Sound the alarm, for there is a lion among you!  Besiegers are coming.  I can hear the cry of battle and anguish.  Desolation is coming.

5
Throughout Jerusalem they have hardened themselves and refused to repent.  I thought this might just be the poor, but the great are the same way.  Your sins have kept good from you.  Your rulers mislead and you people love it that way.

6
Disaster is coming for you have not repented.  I called to you, but you deliberately rejected and ignored Me.


How this is about Jesus

He predicted disaster for Jerusalem, indicted her for her sins, pointed out her lack of repentance.


ApplicationWhen we get into patterns of sin, we get stubborn and our conscience gets calloused instead of tender.


Jeremiah 6:16

Thus says the Lord:
“Stand by the roads, and look,
and ask for the ancient paths,
where the good way is; and walk in it,
and find rest for your souls.
But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’

498 years later - another reforming German pastor

Take 5 minutes to be encouraged by a modern German reforming pastor.

The Sleep of Death / Theological Q&A

Carl Trueman lectures beautifully on our mortality.  Great sermon preparation for All Saints' Sunday.


I'm behind the times, just discovering Ligonier conference sessions on Youtube.
Here's one packed with hard and needed questions to a panel of good men.
I like how the multiple answers to a question are often contradictory if you listen close, forcing you to discern the truth yourself.


And Kevin DeYoung on 1 John 2:15-17 - Love not the world.  Excellent.
Great for taking a break from Netflix and watching as a family.

Halloween

It seems like it happens every year.  I try to assert a moderate position on whether or not to celebrate Halloween and its origins.  And someone dogmatically says it's evil and Christians should have no part of it.

This article helpfully applies Scripture to the issue.

This is an area where different experiences are going to lead people to different conclusions about what they should do.  If your neighbor is a witch with spooky stuff going on that's more than decorative, you'll tend toward one view.  If all your Halloweens have been about Superman costumes, visiting Grandma's house, and getting candy, you'll tend another way.  (I think a better alternative is to hold a Reformation Day party, by the way.)

Give each other a break on this one, people, okay?

This 3 minute cinematic poem has been a favorite of mine.

For a longer and more academic look, see Steven Wedgeworth's fine article, here.

The Sacraments

Sacraments are signs (normative perspective on triangle), God's actions (situational), and His presence (existential).

As signs, they are visible words that show us the truth of the Gospel.
As God's actions they make our relationship with Him official.
As God's presence they put us in communion with God, though only by faith.

Baptism
Baptism brings us into the visible church.
It is an act of repentance (normative perspective - Acts 2:38), cleansing (situational - Acts 22:16), and union (existential - Rom 6:1-4).
It confirms our membership in the covenant with God.  So it isn't just a symbol (a la Zwingli), and it isn't the new birth itself (a la Rome).

Mode of baptism
Some say baptism must be by immersion.  Baptize means immerse.  John the Baptist baptized where there was "much water" (John 3:23).  Jesus came up out of the water at His own baptism (Matt. 3:16).  Our death and resurrection with Christ is better symbolized this way (Romans 6:2-6).

Others say baptism isn't always by immersion.  Luke 11:38 uses "baptize" for a ritual washing.  "Much water" in John 3:23 wasn't necessarily for immersing.  "Some locations of baptism make immersion unlikely (Acts 9:11, 18; 10:25, 47; 16:32-33)" (1064).  There are no examples of baptism in the NT that must be by immersion.  Many Scriptures use the word baptism but the meaning is a sprinkling (Hebrews 9:10; 10:22; 12:24; 1 Peter 1:2), or the Spirit is said to be poured on us (Acts 2:17, 33; Rom 5:5).

Infant baptism
Credo-baptists (CB) believe one should not be baptized until he can profess faith on his own.
Paedo-baptists (PB) believe infants (Greek = paedo) should be baptized.
CB says there is no NT command to baptize infants.  THe NT always links baptism to a profession of faith of an adult.  The NT is radically different from the OT such that we apply sacraments to individuals with faith, not to all those in a household.
PB says the OT commanded the circumcision of infants, and baptism is doing now what circumcision did then.  God's covenant remains for the children, too (Acts 2:39).  Jesus blessed children, a covenantal act (not a sentimental one!).  NT baptisms are mostly household, rejecting the idea that the NT is newly individualistic, even if infants weren't part of those households.


The Lord's Supper
The Supper has past, present and future meaning.  We remember Christ's death in the past, commune with Him in the present, and look forward to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb in the Consummation.

Presence of Christ
Rome says the bread and wine are physically turned into Jesus' body and blood.
Lutherans say the bread and wine are somehow physically conveying Jesus' body and blood.
Both of these don't get the representation meant by the bread and wine.
Most Protestants follow Zwingli who said the bread and wine are just symbols.
Calvin said Christ is really present, but not physically in the bread and wine.

Fellowship
The point of the meal is to express restored reconciliation with God.  Tabernacle and temple both had bread and wine on tables within.  Wisdom invites us to her feast (Prov. 9), and Jesus multiplied bread for the multitudes.

Acts 24-28

Summary

24 - Paul makes his defense before Governor Felix, who puts him off and keeps him in jail.  His wife is Jewish, so he knows about the Way, the rise of the Christians.

25 - When a new governor, Festus comes, he wants to make nice with the Jews, and they want to try him in Jerusalem (ambush and kill him before he gets there, actually.)  Paul appeals to Caesar.
The Jewish puppet King Agrippa comes to meet the new governor, and they talk about Paul.  Agrippa offers to familiarize Festus with the Jewish customs to better understand the case and charges against Paul.
26 - Paul appears before Agrippa and Festus, and tells his story: a Pharisee who persecuted the Way, then saw Jesus on the Damascus Road, then was persecuted by the Jews himself.  Festus thinks Paul is crazy, but Agrippa's take is that he is innocent and shouldn't have had to appeal to Caesar.
27 - They send Paul to Rome by sea, and Luke goes along.  But a storm comes up and wrecks the ship on Malta.  Everyone survives thanks to Paul's guidance, as he is led by the Lord.
28 - On Malta, a snake bites Paul, but he isn't hurt.  He heals many and they winter there before going on to Rome.  Christians meet him on the way.  Paul assembles the Jews to explain himself right away.  He preaches the Gospel to them.  Some believe and many don't.  He quotes Isaiah about their stubbornness at them, and continues preaching to all.


How this is about Jesus
He uses the Roman legal system to get Paul to Rome to testify of Him.


Application
God's providence extends from storms to trials and charges in court, to thrones.  He is working all things together for His kingdom expansion and His glory.

Chapter 27 reminds us of Jonah in the storm - taking the Gospel to Gentiles.

Habakkuk

Summary
Habakkuk cries out to God to do something about Israel's injustice and evil-doing.
God says He is sending Chaldeans to invade and demolish Israel.
Habakkuk says, "Surely not!  They are far more idolatrous than we are."
God says, "Wait for it... the just shall live by faith."
Woe to those who build towns on sin, who worship idols.
Lord remember mercy in Your wrath.  God will come as He has before, in terrible justice and wrath.
Even if every earthly blessing is taken from us, I will rejoice in God who saves.


How this is about Jesus
He takes on this curse for us, of being crushed by foreigners.
He lived by faith in God, and maintained it when God took everything and even forsook Him.


Application
Be careful what you wish/pray for!  Habakkuk starts with wanting God to do something about Israel's sin.  But when he gets an answer, he wants God to remember mercy.  But he is also willing to go through any earthly trial for God to purify and save Israel.


"For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of Yahweh as the waters cover the sea."
 - Habakkuk 2:14

Listen Up! // Holiness // If I were the devil

I've come to enjoy Ken Myers' Mars Hill Audio Journal.  And his fund raising notes are great, too!
In his last, after a two-sentence introductory paragraph, he says this:

"If you've read this far, a remarkable event has occurred.  It is increasingly difficult to get people to read messages sent to them, regardless of the medium.  You're already six sentences deep into this message, and the next time we send a renewal notice, we might not be so lucky."  (emphasis mine)

So true!


Holiness by JC Ryle is available for Kindle for $0.99 at Amazon right now.


I heard this great blues song live yesterday performed by a church member at our talent show.
"If I Were the Devil"

2 Chronicles 35

Summary

King Josiah keeps Passover, telling the priests to do it, and giving many animals for it.  The Levites and priests had a lot of work!  The singers and gatekeepers were doing their thing, too.

Egypt comes to attack Assyria, and Josiah foolishly confronts him at Megiddo.  He dies from battle wounds, a sad end to the reforming king.

How this is about Jesus

He leads Israel to true worship of God, especially at Passover.

He will conquer at the end time battle at Megiddo, instead of fall to the wicked.

Application

Don't grab a passing dog by the ears, injecting yourself into an argument not your own (Prov. 26.17).

Though we may have bright moments in our lives (Josiah's reforms), we will also have embarrassing ones.