Showing posts with label God's Word. Show all posts
Showing posts with label God's Word. Show all posts

Friday 16 February 2024

Joining The Church Or Following The Lord? / The Holy Spirit in the Life of Faith (with links to audio version)

Jesus calls us to follow Him. Are you and I following Him? or Have we settled for something less?
When we speak about church membership, we must ask ourselves, "Where does Jesus fit in? Is He at the centre of our life? or Has He been sidelined, while we settle for something less than following Him?"
Let's think about church membership. What does it mean to us?
  • (1) There is the church member who joined the church because thus is what other people were doing at the time. It was never really anything to do with following Jesus. It was more about following the crowd. When the crowd drifts away from the church, so does this kind of church member. How different is the true disciple who says, "If no one joins me, still I will follow.
  • (2) There is the church member who joined the church because he was interested in the activities associated with the church. This kind of church member is a great enthusiast for his own particular organization, but he shows no enthusiasm for following Jesus. He may give the appearance of worshipping the Lord, but, sadly, the worship of God comes a very poor second to the other activities. This kind of church member may be very dedicated to a particular organization, but he has not learned the attitude if the true disciple - "My goal is God Himself"; "Give me but Jesus, my Lord, crucified."
  • (3) There is the church member who joined the church because he had an interest in religion. He will never tire of speaking of "my church" and "my minister", but he does not speak of "my Saviour." When the conversation begins to get close to personal faith in Christ, he finds it remarkably easy to take it back to the church and the minister. An interest in religion is not the same as commitment to Jesus Christ. However much he may to steer conversation away from personal commitment to Christ, this type of person needs to hear the words that were spoken to Nicodemus by Jesus: "You must be born again" (John 3:3).
  • (4) There is the church member who has joined the church on the basis of a total misunderstanding of Jesus Christ and His message. He sees Jesus as an example and a teacher, but he hasn't even begun to see Jesus for what He really is - the Saviour of sinners.

  • If we were take out of the church, all of these different types of church member, I wonder how many people we would have left. I fear that we would be left with very few.
    The question each of us must face is this: Am I following Jesus?
    • If we are to answer this question honestly, we must ask a second question: What is the true reason for following Jesus?
    Peter gave us a great answer to this question: "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that You are the Holy One of God" (John 6:68-69).
    Here, we have Gospel truth.
    • Peter says, "Lord, to whom shall we go?" because he realizes that he cannot save himself.
    • Peter says, "You have the words of eternal life." He makes it very clear that he needs Jesus as his Saviour. What Peter could not do for himself, only Jesus could do for him.
    May I ask you about yourself? Have you ever taken your stand alongside Peter? Have you ever acknowledged, honestly, before God that you are a sinner, totally unable to save yourself and totally dependent on Jesus Christ as your only Saviour?. Have you ever truly said to the Lord Jesus Christ, "Thou must save, and Thou alone"?
    Here, we have the heart of the Gospel. Jesus Christ is the mighty Saviour of needy sinners: "He is able to save to the uttermost all who come to God through Him" (Hebrews 7:25).
    Jesus Christ offers Himself to you as your Saviour. With Himself, He offers you the gift of eternal life, to be received by faith in Him.
    Don't be content with believing that Jesus, the Son of God, is your teacher and example. Receive Him as your Saviour. Believe that He died for your sins. Believe that He is able to deliver you both the guilt and the power of sin. Commit your life to Him.
    So many people are going away from Jesus. He asks each one of us, "Will you also go away?"
    Make sure that you respond to Him with the great words of Peter: "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words if eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that You are the Holy One of God" (John 6:68-69). 
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    Here are two links to an audio version of a lecture given in January 1987: 

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    The Holy Spirit is the Breath of God. All Scripture is God-breathed. We experience the Breath of God upon our life when we listen attentively to the God-breathed Scriptures. Paul speaks, in 2 Timothy 3:15-17, of the  relationship between the Breath of God (the Holy Spirit) and the God-breathed Word (the Holy Scriptures) – ‘the Holy Scriptures … are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work’.
    1) The Holy Spirit uses the Word of God to make us wise.
        The wisdom which comes from the Spirit and the Word is a special kind of wisdom. It is not the wisdom of this world. It is the wisdom which is bound up with Christ, salvation and faith. Worldly wisdom places great value on intellectual attainment. It emphasizes the importance of getting on in the world. True spiritual wisdom has quite different priorities. As we feed upon God’s Word, the Spirit imparts wisdom to us, a wisdom which the world can neither understand nor receive. This is the wisdom of which Paul speaks in 1 Corinthians 2. He describes this wisdom as ‘a secret and hidden wisdom’ (v.7). This wisdom is no longer hidden from us – ‘God has revealed it to us by His Spirit’ (v.10). It is hidden only from those who refuse to read and hear with faith the ‘words … taught by the Spirit’ (v.13).
    2) The Holy Spirit uses the Word of God to lead us to Christ.
        Jesus has given us His promise concerning the Holy Spirit: ‘He will glorify Me, for He will take what is Mine and declare it to you’ (John 16:14). If we are to honour the Holy Spirit in our preaching, we must focus on the cross of Christ’ – ‘we preach Christ crucified’, ‘I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified’ (1 Corinthians 1:17,23; 2:2). We must pray for ‘the Spirit’s power’ (1 Corinthians 2:4-5). How are we to preach Christ crucified? Will it mean preaching only from a select group of ‘gospel texts’ which refer explicitly to the death of Christ? Preaching Christ and Him crucified does not mean that we must narrow down the focus of our preaching. What, then, does it mean? It means that we must learn to see Christ in ‘all the Scriptures’ (Luke 24:27). At the very centre of all of our preaching from God’s Word, there must stand Jesus Christ and Him crucified. We do not read Christ into places where He is not to be found. Rather, we emphasize that Christ – ‘the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world’ (John 1:29) – is the central Theme of the Scriptures. The Spirit of God points us to Jesus Christ and Him crucified. We are to ‘keep our eyes on Jesus’ (Hebrews 12:2). As we keep our eyes on Him, we will find that the Spirit directs our attention to the cross, graciously reminding us that we have been ‘redeemed … with the precious blood of Christ’ (1 Peter 1:18-19).
    3) The Holy Spirit uses the Word of God to bring us to salvation.
        Jesus Christ is ‘our wisdom, our righteousness, our sanctification and redemption’ (1 Corinthians 1:30). He is our full salvation. From beginning to end, our salvation is in Him. There is no room for boasting on our part: ‘Let him who boasts, boast of the Lord’ (1 Corinthians 1:31). Our salvation is an ‘out of this world’ salvation. It is ‘out of this world’ in its origin. It is a salvation which has its origin in the ‘before the ages’ love of God, the eternal love of God. It is a salvation which has, as its destiny, ‘our glorification’ (1 Corinthians 2:7). When Paul speaks of this eternal salvation, this glorious salvation, he emphasizes its ‘out of this world’ character. He writes, ‘What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived … God has prepared for those who love Him’ (1 Corinthians 2:9). This salvation is not only ‘out of this world’. It has entered into our experience: ‘God has revealed (His salvation) to us through the Spirit’ (1 Corinthians 2:10). Salvation has been revealed. It has come ‘from above’. Here below, we experience salvation. Here below, we confess, with gladness of heart, that salvation has come to us. Tempted to doubt God’s salvation, we must allow the Spirit to bring to our remembrance this salvation which comes ‘from above’. Tempted to think that we ‘know it all’, we must remember that we are still here below. When we speak of God’s salvation, we  must speak with deep gratitude to God ‘for His inexpressible gift’ (2 Corinthians 9:15). Our words can never give adequate expression to God’s great salvation. Nevertheless, we must not be hesitant in preaching Christ and His salvation. As we preach the gospel of salvation, we must never lose sight of the way in which the Spirit has revealed God’s salvation to us. Salvation has not come to us from the depths of our own heart. It has not come to us from some ‘great beyond’ which makes the whole matter so private that we dare not speak of it. Salvation has come to us through ‘words … taught by the Spirit’, the words of Holy Scripture. To those who live below, salvation has come ‘from above’. When we think of God’s salvation, we will come to appreciate its greatness, as we learn to see the greatness of our sin, the greatness of our need.
        God’s salvation corresponds to our need. We have a need for forgiveness. The Gospel speaks to us of ‘peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ’ (Romans 5:1). We doubt our ability to keep going in the life of faith. God’s Word says to us, ‘Do you not know … that God’s Spirit dwells in you?’ (1 Corinthians 3:16). We wonder if there is hope. God assures us that there is hope. He does this by pouring His love ‘into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us’ (Romans 5:5). Peace with God provides us with the God-given foundation for living the life in the Spirit. Before we are called to the life of discipleship, God says to us, ‘There is … now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus’ (Romans 8:1). To the believer, God says, ‘You have been set free’ – set free ‘from the law of sin and death’, set free ‘for the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus’ (Romans 8:2). This freedom is in Christ. The Lord Jesus says to us, ‘if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed’ (John 8:36). His way of setting us free is emphasized in John 8:32 – ‘you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free’. Our experience of freedom, given to us by Christ through His Word of truth, is to be an ongoing experience. This experience of freedom is described by Paul in 2 Corinthians 3:16-18. It begins ‘when a man turns to the Lord’ (v.16). Freedom is the gift of God. It is the gift of the Spirit: ‘where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom’ (v.17). Our ongoing experience of freedom – freedom from sinfulness, freedom for Christlikeness – grows ‘from one degree of glory to another as we ‘behold the glory of the Lord’ (v.18).
    4) The Holy Spirit uses the Word of God to bring us to faith.
        God’s salvation is a gracious salvation. When, however, we join in Paul’s affirmation of Ephesians 2:5 – ‘by grace you have been saved’ – , we must take care to look down to verse 8 where we find the additional words, ‘through faith’: ‘By grace you have been saved through faith’. There must be no hint of a grace which works apart from faith, a grace which makes faith redundant. That would be ‘saved by grace without faith’ which is very different from ‘saved by grace through faith’. In our preaching, we must emphasize both the absolute necessity of grace and the absolute necessity of faith. It is important for us to ask some key questions about faith.
        Our first question is this: ‘Where does faith come from?’ Is there a basic inclination in man towards believing? The parable of the Pharisee and the publican (Luke 18:9-14) gives us, in the proud Pharisee, a striking picture of man apart from the grace of God. We may not believe that we are absolutely perfect but we will, nonetheless, look around ourselves until we see someone to whom we can point and say, ‘Lord, I’m not as bad as him. I’m better than him’. The Holy Spirit has a very definite answer to such sinful pride – ‘you have no excuse, O man, whoever you are, when you judge another; for in passing judgment upon him you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, are doing the very same things’ (Romans 2:1). How do we move from being the proud Pharisee, boasting of our own self-righteousness to becoming the humble publican, crying to God for His mercy? There is only one way, the way of the Gospel. It is when the ‘Gospel’ comes to us ‘not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction’ that we are brought to faith (1 Thessalonians 1:5; 2:13). Let us not imagine that we can bring others to faith without the power of the Holy Spirit working in us and through us.
        When we move on to our second question, ‘What is faith?’, we find that the parable of the Pharisee and the publican provides us, in the publican, with a simple picture of faith. The contrast between the faith of the publican and the works of the Pharisee is total. The faith of the publican was not a ‘work’ by which he earned salvation. He received salvation as a gift of God’s grace. The faith of the publican points in one direction only: the mercy of God. His prayer, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner’ (v.13), points away from the sinner to the Saviour. When we observe Jesus’ use of the word, ‘justified’, in verse 14, our thoughts tend to move towards Paul and the doctrine of justification by faith. The doctrine of justification by faith was Jesus’ doctrine before it was Paul’s. What does say Paul say about justification by faith that is not already said – in essence – by Jesus in this parable? Paul contrasts grace and works in Romans 11:6 – ‘if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works’. He contrasts faith and works in Romans 9:32 where he states that Israel did not fulfil the law because ‘they did not pursue it through faith, but as if it were based on works’. While Paul contrasts both grace and faith with works, he never contrasts grace and faith. They belong together. In our preaching, we must emphasize both the offer of grace and the call to faith.
        There is a third question we must ask – ‘Why is faith so important?’ Again, the parable of the Pharisee and the publican answers this question for us: ‘this man went down to his house justified rather than the other’ (v.14). It is faith which marks the difference between the man whom God has declared righteous and the man who is robed in the ‘filthy rags’ of his own religion and morality (Isaiah 64:6). The contrast between Pharisaism and saving faith is brought out well in Luke 7:36-50 where a sinful woman is forgiven as the Pharisees ‘say among themselves’, “Who is this, who even forgives sins?”‘(v.49). Jesus’ words to the woman, in verses 48 and 50, consist of three very short sentences which are packed with Gospel truth. ‘Your sins are forgiven’ – these words were spoken to the woman, but not to the Pharisees. Why? The answer is found in the next sentence – ‘Your faith has saved you’. The reason that the woman, and not the Pharisees, heard the words, ‘Your sins are forgiven’, is clear. She believed. They did not believe. The Lord Jesus then said to the woman, ‘Go in peace’.
        From these words of peace, we may find our thoughts turning to the Dove of Peace, the Holy Spirit. In giving to the believer the forgiveness of sins, the Lord Jesus also gives the Holy Spirit. In grace and mercy, God gives the Holy Spirit to us: ‘regeneration and renewal in the Holy Spirit’, given to us by ‘the goodness and loving kindness of God our Saviour … poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Saviour’ (Titus 3:4-7). The direct connection between Christ and the Holy Spirit is emphasized in John the Baptist’s prophecy: ‘He (Jesus Christ) will baptize you with the Holy Spirit’ (Matthew 3:11; Mark 1:8; Luke 3:16; John 1:33). In Galatians 3:14, Paul stresses that it is ‘in Christ Jesus that we receive the promise of the Spirit through faith’. He goes on to emphasize that ‘faith works by love ‘ and speaks also of ‘love’ as ‘the fruit of the Spirit’ (5:6,22-23).  Love – this is so important. Love – this is the practical context for all of our theological reflection concerning the Holy Spirit in the life of faith.
    5) The Holy Spirit uses the Word of God for our profit.
        At our local primary school, I began a lesson on the Old Testament prophets by asking the question, ‘What is a prophet?’ One boy gave the answer, ‘It’s when you sell something for more than you bought it for’. We profit from the Scriptures because Scripture is a word of prophecy: ‘men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God’ (2 Peter 1:21). How do we profit from the prophets? How do we profit from the Scriptures? The answer is given in 2 Timothy 3:16 – ‘All Scripture is God-breathed and profitable’. Scripture is profitable because Scripture is God-breathed. The Bible is the Word of God. That’s why it profits us. If the Bible is not the Word of God, no amount of our saying, ‘I derive profit from reading the Bible’ will make it the Word of God. It is not our faith or lack of faith which decides whether or not the Bible is God’s Word. Our faith or lack of faith can neither add to nor take away from Paul’s great declaration, ‘All Scripture is God-breathed’. Our faith rests on a sure foundation: ‘How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord, is laid for your faith in His excellent Word!’ Despite our unbelief, ‘the Word of God is not bound’ (2 Timothy 2:9). Through His Word, God is able to lift us out of our unbelief and bring us into the assurance of faith. We profit from God’s Word when we allow the Breath of God, the Holy Spirit, to breathe His God-breathed words into our hearts and lives.
    6) The Holy Spirit uses the Word of God to teach us.
        Jesus tells us, in John 7:17, that if we want to understand His teaching, we must commit ourselves to doing the will of God. True understanding of Christ and His Gospel goes hand in hand with a practical commitment to living as His disciple. If we are not to be ‘blown here and there by every wind of teaching’, we need to commit ourselves to being ‘doers’ of God’s Word (Ephesians 4:14; James 1:22). There are ‘some things’, in God’s Word, which are ‘hard to understand’ (2 Peter 3:16). Many demands will be placed on those who take seriously the task of ‘correctly handling the Word of truth’ (2 Timothy 2:15). As we wrestle with the many-sided complexities of gaining an accurate understanding of God’s Word, we must never lose sight of ‘the simplicity which is in Christ’. We must take great care to maintain our ‘sincere and pure devotion to Christ’ (2 Corinthians 11:3).
    In our learning from God’s Word and in our teaching God’s Word to others, we are to honour the Holy Spirit. He is our Teacher. This is what Jesus says concerning Him – ‘the Counsellor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My Name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you’ (John 14:26). As we walk with the Lord, ‘letting the Word of Christ dwell in us richly’ the Holy Spirit will not fail us. He will not leave us without a word to speak for Him (Colossians 3:16; Luke 12:12). In the ministry of God’s Word, we are to say only what the Holy Spirit gives to us for the spiritual feeding of the people.
        When I was a student, this lesson was impressed upon me by my Minister, George Philip. He pointed out to me that there may be many things which will interest me in the study, but they may not be what God is wanting me to share with the people when I go to the pulpit. I have never forgotten his words. They have provided an important framework for my ministry. Our goal is not to impress people with our great learning. Rather, it is to give them a glimpse of the greatness of our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. Jack Rogers gives us a thought-provoking account of a sermon preached by G.C. Berkouwer while he was in the U.S.A. – ‘The worshippers were disappointed by his sermon. They could understand it! They expected the great professor to be profound (i.e. abstract, dull). Instead, he preached a simple gospel sermon of pastoral comfort and affirmation’ (Confessions of a Conservative Evangelical, p.141). If our preaching is a disappointment to those who bring with them the wrong expectations, let us not be perturbed. If our preaching is a help to those who are eagerly seeking to be instructed in the Word of God, let us rejoice. We are to help our hearers to ‘grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ’ (2 Peter 3:18). This is ‘the work’ for which we have been ‘set apart’ by ‘the Holy Spirit’. This is ‘the work’ to which we have been ‘called’ by ‘the Holy Spirit’ (Acts 13:2).
    7) The Holy Spirit uses the Word of God to reprove us.
        This ministry of the Spirit – His reproving ministry – is vitally related to His correcting ministry. These ministries belong together. In His reproving ministry, the Spirit is concerned with showing us where we have gone wrong. In His correcting ministry, He is concerned with bringing us back to the right way. There will be those who are reproved by the Spirit of God yet they refuse His correcting ministry. The Word of God speaks very directly of this in Proverbs 29:1 – ‘He who is often reproved, yet stiffens his neck, will suddenly be broken beyond healing’. This, however, is not the intention of the Spirit’s reproving ministry. The Holy Spirit reproves us so that He might bring us back into the way of holiness. In Hebrews 3:7, we read words which ‘the Holy Spirit’ speaks to us, ‘Today, when you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts’.
        In Paul’s letters, we have two different yet related instructions concerning obedience to the Spirit of God – ‘Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God’ (Ephesians 4:30). and ‘Do not quench the Spirit’ (1 Thessalonians 5:19). While these two instructions may be similar, there is a difference of emphasis. The warning against grieving the Spirit is more related to the Spirit’s reproving ministry while the warning against quenching the Spirit is more related to His correcting ministry. When the Spirit is reproving us for our wrong living, we must not grieve Him by continuing in the wrong way. When the Spirit is seeking to bring us back into the pathway of holiness, we must not quench Him by resisting His holy promptings within us.
        In connection with the Spirit’s reproving ministry, we must consider Christ’s warning against committing the unpardonable sin, ‘the blasphemy against the Spirit’ (Matthew 12:31-32; Mark 3:28-30; Luke 12:10). What is Jesus saying to us here? He is urging us to be responsive to the Spirit in His ministries of reproof and correction. We must not isolate this sin against the Spirit from all other sins of resisting the Spirit. Jesus is pressing home the urgent importance of not grieving the Spirit and not quenching the Spirit. In His ministries of reproof and correction, the Spirit speaks to us as the Spirit of Christ. He speaks as the One concerning whom Jesus says, ‘He will bring glory to Me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you’ (John 16:14). The Spirit convicts us of our sin with a view to bringing us to the Saviour who graciously forgives our sin.
    8) The Holy Spirit uses the Word of God to correct us.
        The Spirit’s ministries of reproof and correction belong together. In Ephesians 4:30, we see both reproof and correction. We are warned – ‘Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God’. We must take care that we do not follow a pathway that will lead us further away from the Lord. We are encouraged – ‘in whom you were sealed for the day of redemption’. We must not lose sight of the glorious destiny towards which the Lord is leading us. In His ministries of reproof and correction, the Lord does not treat us as strangers. He treats us as children. ‘Sent into our hearts’ by ‘God’ the Father, ‘the Spirit’ enables us to call God our ‘Father’ (Galatians 4:6). In love, we are reproved – ‘ the Lord disciplines him whom he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives’ (Hebrews 12:6). His goal is our correction. He wants to transform our life, to bring us out of a life dominated by sin and into a life filled with His blessing.
        Calling us back from a life that dishonours God – Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery’, He invites us to live a life that brings glory to God – ‘be filled with the Spirit’ (Ephesians 5:18). The Spirit corrects us as we respond, with the obedience of faith, to the Lord’s command – ‘be filled with the Spirit’. Paul does not say, ‘Fill yourselves with the Spirit’. He says, ‘let the Holy Spirit fill you’ (N.E.B.). God is calling us to ‘the life-long walk in the Spirit’ (A.W. Tozer, The Divne Conquest, p.110). He is calling us to ‘keep on being filled with the Spirit’.The Spirit-filled life is a  gift of God, a gift of grace. There can be no room for boasting of our own moral superiority. All the glory belongs to the Lord. We can only look away from ourselves to Him and say, ‘the Lord has done this, and it is marvellous in our eyes’ (Psalm 118:23). Our testimony must always be this, ‘Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to Your Name be the glory, because of Your love and faithfulness’ (Psalm 115:1).
    9) The Holy Spirit uses the Word of God to train us in righteousness.
        Whenever a preacher speaks about being baptized with the Spirit or filled with the Spirit, different hearers hear the words in different ways. An important biblical way of thinking about the baptism with the Spirit is indicated in Matthew 3:11-12 and Luke 3:16-17. The baptism with the Spirit is a baptism with ‘fire’ – ‘His winnowing fork is in His hand and He will clear His threshing floor and gather His wheat into the granary, but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire’. The Spirit led Jesus, after His baptism, into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil (Matthew 4:11; Mark 1:12-13; Luke 4:1-2). The Spirit leads us into the refining fire where we are trained in righteousness. Training in righteousness is not fun. Compare training in righteousness with the training of a sportsman. It is hard work. There are times when it is difficult to see the goal. When we are going through hard times, we must remember the goal – ‘praise and glory and honour at the revelation (or appearing) of Jesus Christ’ (1 Peter 1:6-7).
        When we are being trained in righteousness, there will be difficulties arising from the fact that loyalty to Christ is not welcome in an unbelieving world. God’s Word tells us that ‘all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted’ (2 Timothy 3:12). When we are being trained in righteousness, we must recognize that God’s way for us may not be the way that we would have planned for ourselves. When Paul prayed about his ‘thorn in the flesh’, his prayer was answered – but not in the way he had hoped. The weakness remained, but in it Paul experienced something greater – the grace of God. God can turn even the most unlikely circumstances into ideal situations for training in righteousness. We can be assured that God knows what He is doing. Over the whole process of training in righteousness, He writes these great words – ‘My grace is sufficient for you’ (2 Corinthians 12:7-9).
    10) The Holy Spirit uses the Word of God to make the man of God, complete for every good work.
        ‘Man of God’ – isn’t that a wonderful expression? That’s what God calls us! We don’t deserve to be called this, but this is what God has made us in Christ. God is determined to make us worthy of this marvellous title which He has so graciously bestowed upon us! We are called to maturity. We are called to mature holiness. We are to mature in our response to God’s call to holiness, that call which is at one and the same time both a command and a promise – ‘be holy, for I am holy’, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy’ (Leviticus 11:44; 1 Peter 1:16). God’s call to holiness is clear – ”God has not called us to uncleanness, but to holiness’. This call is followed by these solemn words of warning – ‘whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives His Holy Spirit to you’ (1 Thessalonians 4:7-8). Maturity is bound up with holiness. The nearest we have, in Scripture, to a definition of maturity is found in Hebrews 5:14 – ‘solid food is for the mature, for those who have their faculties trained by practice to distinguish good from evil’. ‘Trained by practice to distinguish good from evil’ – what a practical definition of maturity! May God grant a revival of such maturity in our day. We are being ‘equipped for every good work’ These good works are the works of faith – ‘By grace you have been saved through faith … to do good works’ (Ephesians 2:8-10). These good works are produced in us through the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit. As we ‘let the Word of Christ dwell in us richly’, the Spirit works in us to make us more like our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ – ‘the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control’ (Colossians 3:16; Galatians 5:22-23).
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    Sunday 23 February 2020

    The Word Of God - Christ, Scripture, Preaching

    If I were to go around the congregation and ask you, "Why have you come to this church service?", I'm sure I would get quite a variety of different answers. Some of you, if you were being perfectly honest, might have to say, "I came because I've got into a routine of coming to church on a Sunday." If this is what you're thinking, that's very sad. How can you expect to get anything out of the service, if you have only come to church because it's part of your weekly routine?
    Others may say, "I feel that I must come because it's my duty." There's a sense in which this is true, yet, if that's all that brings you to church, you're missing a great deal. Such an attitude is surely a far cry from the attitude of the Psalmist: "I was glad when they said to me, 'Let us go to the house of the Lord'" (Psalm 122:1),
    Others may say, "I've come to church to hear the minister speak." Yes. You will hear the minister speaking, but if you do not come to church, expecting God to speak to you through the minister, you will get very little from the church service.
    We must come to hear more than the minister. We must come to hear God speaking to us. We must come for more than meeting other Christians. We must come to meet with God.
    This brings us to the very heart of why we come to the church service - encounter with God.
    We come to God as part of a worshipping, believing and praying fellowship of His people. We come, seeking to meet with Him. We come to worship Him, to pray to Him and to hear His Word.
    Let's think together about hearing the Word of God.
    What do we mean when we say "the Word of God"?
    Often, our answer is given very quickly. Without much thought, we say, the Bible."
    Do you know that, if you were to stop and think about the richness and the depth that there is in the phrase, "the Word of God", you would be both greatly blessed greatly challenged?
    What do we use words for?
    - We use words when we think.
    - We use words when we speak to one another.
    We use words to communicate our thoughts.
    When we speak about "the Word of God", what we are saying is this; God has not kept His thoughts to Himself. He has shared His thoughts with us. He has told us about the love He has for us. He has opened His heart to us. He did not wait for us to come to Him. He has come to us. He has taken the initiative. He did not leave us groping around in the darkness, trying to make sense of our life. He has spoken to us of His love for us.
    What a wonderful message He speaks to us!
    - "God is love" (1 John 4:8).
    - "God so loved the world that He gave His only Son" (John 3:16).
    - "God showed His love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8).
    Think of these wonderful word, and let your heart be moved by the wonder of God's love for you. He loved so much that He sent His Son to die for you,
    In the Bible, we find that "the Word of God" has three meanings:
    - Christ is the Word of God (John 1:114Hebrews 1:1).
    - Scripture is the Word of God (2 Timothy 3:16).
    - The preached Word is described as the Word of God (Acts 4:31).
    Let's think together about these three ways in which the Bible speaks about the Word of God.
    • First, Christ is the Word of God. This is the most fundamental meaning of the Word of God.
    We do not really benefit from the Word of God in Scripture and preaching if we do not see Christ in them.
    The aim of both Scripture and preaching is to point us to Christ.
    It is Christ who is God's Word to us. It is Christ who is the Gospel. It is Christ who is God's way of salvation.
    I remember, sitting in a meeting, listening to a godly man, reading and preaching God's Word. Before he began to preach, he prayed, "Lord, hide this preacher behind the Cross so that the only One who is seen is Jesus." Ne stated his text: It was these four words: "the Lord Jesus Christ." He spoke of how He loved to give Jesus His full title: "the Lord Jesus Christ." He emphasized that giving Jesus His full title helped us to see Him in all His fullness. He took us to some of the names that the Bible uses when it speaks to us of our Lord Jesus Christ. This was, for me, a rich experience as, together with others, we turned our eyes upon Jesus. As we looked from the preacher to Jesus, as we learned from the Scriptures about Jesus, I came to a deeper appreciation of something very important: Jesus Christ is the Word of God spoken to us by God Himself. Here, we see the great purpose of Scripture and true Gospel preaching. Both are given to us for this purpose - to lead us to the Lord Jesus Christ.
    • Second, the Scriptures have been given to us by God. They have been given to us so that we might be led to Jesus, our Saviour. Jesus says to us, "It is the Scriptures that bear witness to Me" (John 5:39). Jesus taught His disciples "in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself" (Luke 24:27). The apostles sought to point to Jesus from the Scriptures (Acts 17:2-3). If we truly hear and understand the Scriptures, we will open our hearts to Jesus Christ. The Scriptures speak to us God's Word. They say to us, "Consider Jesus."
    • Third, the Bible speaks to us of the preaching of the Word of God. To preach the Word of God is to preach Christ [Romans 10:17 - "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God (KJV) / the preaching of Christ (RSV)].
    Paul sought to know and make known Jesus Christ and Him crucified" (1 Corinthians 2:21:23). He sought to be unashamed of the Gospel of Christ (Romans 1:16). He sought to glory only in the Cross of Christ (Galatians 6:14).
    This is true preaching. It is more than a minister, giving his thoughts on one thing or another. It is the proclamation of Christ.
    When Christ is proclaimed, God is pleased to come, by His Spirit, and bring men and women to faith in Christ (1 Corinthians 1:21).
    What is your attitude to the preaching of the Gospel? Do you come to hear a preacher? or Do you come to hear God speaking to you? If you come to hear God, this is the Word you will hear - "Consider Jesus." This is what God says to you and me.
    He directs our attention to Jesus. He says, "This is My Beloved Son, hear Him" (Matthew 17:5).
    Can you hear God speaking to you? This is what He's saying to you: "If today you hear God's voice, do not harden your hearts" (Hebrews 4:7).
    Jesus Christ is God's Word to you. He is God's Word of salvation. He is God's Son. He is our Saviour. Will you listen to His voice? He's calling you to come to Him.Will you receive Him as your Saviour?

    Monday 28 October 2019

    Walking in the Light with God

    God is calling us to walk in the light with Him.
    * He’s calling us to walk with Him in the light of His love.
    Go back to Genesis 1:3 – “Let there be light, and there was light.” Go back beyond the created light. Go back to the eternal God – “In the beginning, God” (Genesis 1:1). What do we find when we go back to the eternal God. We find love, eternal love:  “He has loved us with an everlasting love” (Jeremiah 31:3). This is light of God’s love.
    * He’s calling us to walk with Him in the light of His Word.
    What is it that brings us out of darkness and into light? It’s the light of God’s Word – “Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Psalm 119:105).
    * He’s calling us to walk with Him in the light of His Son.
    What a great Saviour we have! Jesus is His Name. He is “the Light of the world” (John 8:12). Let us walk with Jesus – in the light of God’s love, in the light of God’s Word.
    * He’s calling us to walk with God in the light of His Kingdom.
    What do we see when we look on to the end of time? We see the light of God’s Kingdom: “There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever” (Revelation 22:5).
    The darkness shall not prevail over us. How can darkness triumph over the light of God – the light of His love, the light of His Word, the light of His Son, the light of His Kingdom?
    May God help us to look beyond the conflict. May He give us faith to look on to His victory, to rejoice in Him and be strong in Him.

    Saturday 26 October 2019

    God's Word and God's Spirit

    We thank You, Lord, for Your Word and Your Spirit (Acts 6:3-4). Help us, Lord, to "be filled with the Spirit" as we "let the Word of Christ dwell in us richly" (Ephesians 5:18; Colossians 3:16). Filled with Your Spirit and obedient to Your Word, may we look to You for Your blessing (Acts 6:7).

    Friday 18 October 2019

    Speaking the Word of God in today's world

    We have to speak to today's world - but we must make sure that it's God's Word that we speak.
    What are we to say to the world?  We must begin with another question: What is God saying to us?
    If we are to hear what God is saying to us, we must make time for studying His Word. We can only speak the Word of God to others if we have heard Him speaking to ourselves. If our words are to bring something real and relevant to today's word, they must be an echo of "the living and enduring word of God" (1 Peter 1:23).
    In themselves, our words have no power to change the lives of those who hear them. There is, however, a greater Power at work when the Lord's servants proclaim His Word. In Ephesians 6:17, Paul describes "the Word of God" as "the sword of the Spirit." Whenever we are bringing the Word of God to men and women, we must pray for the presence and power of the Spirit . We must remember this: "The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:4-5). When our preaching is grounded in the the Holy Scriptures, empowered by the Holy Spirit and centred upon our Holy Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, men and women will be set free from the clutches of Satan and will begin to glorify God through His Son, Jesus Christ, who is "our righteousness, holiness and redemption" With Christ as our Saviour, let us join, with Paul, in saying, “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 1:30-31). Let us "preach Christ crucified" (1 Corinthians 1:23), praying that there will be "a demonstration of the Spirit’s power" (1 Corinthians 2:4). This is what today's world needs more than anything else!

    Tuesday 13 August 2019

    The Bible, God, the Church and the World

    We may study Scripture personally but we must not study it individualistically. Our study of Scripture must be related to God, the Church and the world.
    We need a revival of the apostolic devotion - “we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the Word” (Acts 6:4). We are not to study Scripture for our own benefit only. We are to “hold fast the Word of life” by “holding forth the Word of life” (Philippians 2:16).
    The Word is God’s Word. The work is God’s work. The Word is to be read in God’s way. The work is to be done in God’s way. We are to read the Word of God prayerfully. The work of God - evangelism and edification - is to be done prayerfully.
    We are to approach God’s Word in a spirit of prayer - “Give me understanding, that I may keep Thy law and observe it with my whole heart” (Psalm 119:34).
    We should pray for those who preach the Word (Ephesians 6:18-20). Pray for them in their preparation. Receive the preaching prayerfully, even when the preacher is not among the best.
    The Church is established through evangelism and equipped for evangelism. If the Church is to be equipped for evangelism, there must be edification.
    God’s people must feed on the Word of God if they are to become strong and able to share it with others. As well as “quiet times” and sermons, we should take advantage of opportunities for group Bible study.
    Prayerful study of God’s Word opens doors for God to work in our lives, our churches and our communities.
    In drawing our attention to his own deep commitment to both evangelism and theology, Michael Green made the thought-provoking remark: “Most evangelists are not very interested in theology: most theologians are not very interested in evangelism” (Evangelism and the Early Church, p. 7). Insofar as Green’s observation is accurate, our theological understanding and our evangelistic endeavour are weakened.
    This matter must be taken to God in prayer. There, we will be given understanding and we will be equipped for evangelism. There, we will discover that “prayer is evangelism shorn of all its carnal attractions.”
    God has declared His purpose: “For I’m building a people of power and I’m making a people of praise, that will move through this land by My Spirit, and will glorify My precious Name.” Let our prayer be, “Build Your Church, Lord.Make us strong, Lord. Join our hearts, Lord through Your Son. Make us strong, Lord, in Your Body, in the Kingdom of Your Son.”

    Tuesday 5 March 2019

    When you read God's Word ...

    "When you read God's Word, you must constantly be saying to yourself, 'It is talking to me, and about me.'" (Soren Kierkegaard).

    Wednesday 7 November 2018

    Book Review: The Strangeness of God

    The Strangeness of God: Essays in Contemporary Theology
    Elizabeth Templeton
    Arthur James Limited, London, 1993; 173pp., £7.99; ISBN 0 85305 296 4

    Templeton describes this book as 'fragments of thinking done over some fifteen years ... mostly since I stopped being "an academic"'. This latter phrase, perhaps, explains her description of this material as 'unacademic theology'. Certainly, these articles are likely to prove very difficult reading for those who are not academics! The Bishop of Durham, who would presumably classify himself as an academic, appears to have  found this book heavy going. His Foreword urges perseverance in reading
    this book, especially where the reader does not 'at first, make much sense of it'. In the Foreword, we read that  this book 'lies very much  within Christian Faith, taken for granted and pursued'. Some readers may wonder whether this begs the question: Can we take it for granted that this book gives us an authentic account of the Christian faith? Later, the Foreword describes God as 'far too great a Mystery and a Glory for dogmatisms, moralisms and sectarian certainties'. This statement highlights the difficulty of speaking about God in a way that does not reduce him to human size. Templeton's book is a protest against this type of thinking. Perhaps, in her theology, there is a strong element of reaction against 'two years of fervent evangelical acceleration in my early teens'. Throughout this book, there is one conspicuous absence: the voice of Scripture, speaking authoritatively as the Word of God. At the risk of being accused of 'claustrophobic anti-world sectarianism', this reviewer must ask the author for more exposition of Scripture. Templeton's articles raise the question: What is to set the agenda for our theology - the world or the Word? She  insists that we must not say 'more than can be said in view of the facts' and that we must not dodge 'the actualities of existence'. The evangelical theologian must also say that Scripture is one of the facts, Scripture as a Word, spoken to our existence by God himself. Where the Word is removed from theology's centre-stage, the world will not be slow to fill the gap. Theology will, then, be too much our speaking and not enough God speaking to us, too much listening to the world and not enough listening to the Word. There needs to be balance here: listening to the world and listening to the Word. I suspect that many readers will question whether Templeton has come close to achieving such a balance. In her opening chapter, she depicts God as saying, 'I will go to them incognito ... I must be careful not to dazzle them. I will be mistakable for anybody, or nobody.' While affirming that, in Christ, we have God 'veiled in flesh', this reviewer must ask: Is the glory of God so hidden as to merit this kind of talk- 'mistakable for anybody, or nobody'? or Is there some other reason why Templeton is drawn to this way of thinking? On the next page, she tells us that 'a strange thing happened. In the community of those who had learned to love this man ... the presence of the man who was dead and gone became more alive and potent and  convincing than it had been even in his lifetime'. Here, we must ask whether this is how Scripture describes, for us, the 'strange thing' that we call  the resurrection of Jesus Christ? Again, we must ask why Templeton speaks as she does. She speaks of God in  terms of  'love and freedom which is uncoercive'. Do we have, here, an explanation why she shies away from a clearer statement concerning the glory of our Lord Jesus  Christ (2 Peter 1:16-18)? Is this the reason why she draws back from giving an account of Christ's resurrection, which refuses to reduce the fact of his resurrection to our faith in him (1 Corinthians 15:17,20)? It seems, to this reviewer, that she draws back from any account of Jesus Christ, which is, in her view, too coercive. Here, we have the problem of reading Scripture according to our own preconceived notions. We only allow Scripture to say what we want to hear. It seems, to this reviewer, that readers, who look for a greater willingness to let Scripture speak more freely, will feel that there is an element of strangeness in this book. Whether this is 'the strangeness of God' is another question. Perhaps, it is the strangeness of reading theology, which seems so uncommitted to a careful and attentive listening to the voice of Scripture, speaking as the Word of God.
    Charles M. Cameron

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