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Musings on Sovereignty 2

August 14, 2016

The late deservedly celebrated Dr. Young, though he affected great opposition to some of the doctrines called Calvinistic, was yet compelled, by the force of truth, to acknowledge that “there is not a fly but has had infinite wisdom concerned not only in its structure, but in its destination.” Nor did the late learned and excellent Bishop Hopkins go a jot too far in asserting as follows: “A sparrow, whose price is but mean, two of them valued at a farthing (which some make to be the tenth part of a Roman penny, and was certainly one of their least coins), and whose life, therefore, is but contemptible, and whose flight seems giddy and at random; yet it fails not to the ground, neither lights anywhere, without your Father. His all-wise Providence hath before appointed what bough it shall pitch on, what grains it shall pick up, where it shall lodge, and where it shall build; on what it shall live, and where it shall die. Our Savior adds, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. God keeps an account even of that stringy excrescence. Do you see a thousand little motes and atoms wondering up and down in a sun-beam? It is God that so peoples it, and He guides their innumerable and irregular strayings. Not a dust flies in a beaten road but God raiseth it, conducts its uncertain motion, and, by His particular care, conveys it to the certain place He had before appointed for it; nor shall the most fierce and tempestuous wind hurry it any further. Nothing comes to pass but God hath His ends in it, and will certainly make His own ends out of it. Though the world seems to run at random, and affairs to be huddled together in blind confusion, and rude disorder, yet, God sees and knows the concatenation of all causes and effects, and so governs them that He makes a perfect harmony out of all those seeming jarrings and discords. It is most necessary that we should have our hearts well established in the firm and unwavering belief of this truth, that whatsoever comes to pass, be it good or evil, we may look up to the hand and disposal of all, to God. In respect of God, there is nothing causal nor contingent in the world.       Augustus Toplady

The above quotation of Toplady is simply tremendous. It reaches beyond what is the normal thinking on sovereignty and points the mind and the heart to the glory of God and the depths of His sovereignty. It is true that it is now possible to reflect on things like atoms and quarks, but most minds (perhaps all to be honest) cannot reach the depths in thinking of the beams that move in the sun. How are we to deal with a God that is sovereign over the structure of the fly and even more on each path of each fly? How are we to comprehend a God who is sovereign over every gnat and every mosquito? Can it be that all the chiggers and ticks are where they are because God ordained that they be right there? Can it be that every spider spins its web in precisely the place where God plans for it to be and that every insect that is caught in that web has been planned to be caught in that web? Behold the glory of God!

The glory of God is on display in every place in the universe, but not all are given eyes to behold His beauty and glory. As has been written hundreds of years ago, God hides Himself in the second causes. This is to say that those with natural eyes (so to speak) will see nothing but the second causes and be blind to the First Cause of it all. Men curse people, events, circumstances, and the weather and in doing so they curse the God who planned and ordained all of them. Men look to luck, fortune, and happenstance as explanations for what happens to them good or bad. However, they ought to know that God is in control of all events instead of forces that just happen. Men ought to know that the wrath of God is upon them each moment that they are out of Christ and all that happens to them (good or bad in their perceptions) comes from the wrathful hand of God who in perfect wisdom knows how to bring judgment upon each person as He pleases.

Apart from the glorious teaching of the sovereign God in all things we have a universe that displays design and order, but that is nothing more then the god of the Deists. The Deists will have a god who will design and created the world, but they deny that He has much to do with it now. But the teaching of Scripture regarding the sovereign God who created all things for His pleasure and who upholds all things by the word of His power sets forth a God who is in control in the most intimate of details. The God with whom we have to do is a God who knows everything about us and is in control of all things in the universe as well as in us. The God with whom we have to do is a God who is worthy of worship and is the only one who can give us hearts to join Him in love and worship of Himself. This God is utterly beautiful and glorious in all He is and in all He does. He is the true God and there is no other.

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Musings on Sovereignty 1

August 13, 2016

When I consider the absolute independency of God, and the necessary, total dependence of all created things on Him their first cause, I cannot help standing astonished at the pride of impotent, degenerate man, who is so prone to consider himself as a being possessed of sovereign freedom, and invested with a power of self-salvation; able, he imagines, to counteract the designs even of infinite Wisdom, and to defeat the agency of Omnipotence itself. “Ye shall be as gods,” said the tempter to Eve in paradise; and ye are as gods, says the same tempter now to her apostate sons…The Scripture doctrine of pre-determination lays the axe to the very root of this potent delusion. It assures us that all things are of God, that all our times and all events are in His hand. Consequently, that man’s business below is to fill up the departments and to discharge the several offices assigned him, in God’s purpose, from everlasting; and that, having lived his appointed time and finished his allotted course of action and suffering, he, that moment, quits the state of terrestrial life and removes to the invisible state.             Augustus Toplady

There are only two systems of religion in the world. The first is that men have to work either a little or a lot in order to have a happy life in eternity. The second is that God is sovereign and bestows grace upon the ungodly and gives them a happy life in eternity by His mere grace to the praise of the glory of His grace. Christianity is the second of these and every other religion in the world is the first. Men, women, and children are utterly dependent upon God for all things and at all times. Yes, it is quite true that men are blind to this because of their sinful hearts that are blind to spiritual things. But when men have their eyes opened, they can see how utterly prideful their wicked hearts have been to think that they can take a breath apart from God’s concurrence.

Instead of starting with men as the standard, we must go to where Scripture goes and state that God is the ultimate truth and standard of all things. God is absolutely independent and as such all men must be absolutely dependent. God is the first cause and though He works through secondary causes, all that happens is from His hand. Nothing can happen unless it fits into His plan and it is that plan that is from all eternity. The living God who is all-powerful and of infinite wisdom cannot be coerced or bribed and cannot be brought into an agreement with men based on their principles. Man is simply and utterly dependent upon God and cannot do one thing to bring God into some form of obligation to himself.

Toplady speaks of being astonished at the pride of impotent and degenerate men. If he thought impotent man was so full of pride in his day (1700’s), then what would he think of our day in which the true God seems to be almost universally denied? What would he think of our day in which the pulpits of the land are full of those who seem to think nothing of the power of God and encourage men to serve God by their own decisions? It is not just that men are deceived and/or wrong about some small things regarding theology, but they are horribly and terribly wrong about the truth of God. Men focus on themselves and their own power and strength, but what they need to be brought to is to focus on God’s power and strength and to know their utter weakness and inability. Men need to be told of their own inability and of God’s ability. Men must be pointed away from themselves and then pointed toward God or pointed toward God and then away from themselves.

The delusion of men is to think that they have something like a sovereign freedom while they assign God to a lesser position than their own wills. This is simply an outrage and an attack upon the sovereign freedom of God. Can impotent man who is empty of wisdom and spiritual life and strength and such a speck of dust in the universe really have the power of self-salvation and effectively oppose the designs of the omnipotence of God in His infinite wisdom? What is man that God should even think of such a vile creature with anything but loathing and wrath? What is man but a tiny speck of dust on the earth which is but a speck of dust in the universe? Who does man think he is to actually think that he can plan for himself and provide for himself?

When put bluntly, the old adage is very true. God is God and man is not. God has created all things and that includes all men. It is God who is sovereign over all things and man is sovereign over nothing. It is God that orders all things according to His plans and man cannot counter those plans with his own. It is God that is infinite in wisdom and power and man has no wisdom or power but what God gives him. Who is puny little man to lift up his fist against God and say that he (man) will do as he pleases? Who is this speck of dust who will demand to be saved according to his own pleasure? Man is but a vapor who is held into being by the mere pleasure of God each and every moment that He is pleased to do so. When God decides that He will not hold a vapor into being on this planet, then as a little bubble pops with a sharp object and disappears, so man dies and enters eternity. Man is completely in the hands of his Maker and should be humbled and broken over this. Man should bow in utter submission to this God instead of subverting the rights of God over himself to himself.

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Glorifying God 1

August 12, 2016

1 Cor 10:31 Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

Matthew 22:37 And He said to him, “‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’

God does not seek His own glory because it makes Him happy, to be honored and highly thought of, but because He loves to see Himself, His own excellencies and glories appearing in His works. He loves to see Himself communicated and it was His intention to communicate Himself that was a prime motive of His creating the world. His own glory was the ultimate motive. He Himself was His end, that is, Himself communicated. The very phrase “the glory” seems naturally to signify this. Glory is a shining forth, an effulgence. So the glory of God is the shining forth or effulgence of His perfections, as effulgence is the communication of light. For this reason, that brightness whereby God was wont to manifest Himself in the wilderness, and in the tabernacle and temple, was called God’s glory. As the brightness of the sun, moon, and stars is called their glory, so the glory of God is the shining forth of His perfections. The world was created that they [His perfections] might shine forth, that is, that they [His perfections] might be communicated.    Jonathan Edwards

The chief end of man (primary purpose of man) is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. If this is the chief end of man, then this is not something men are to be ignorant about. In fact, however, it seems that the vast majority of people (who even know that we are to glorify God) think that by living an outwardly moral life and attending church is how God is glorified. While the Greatest Commandment is to love God with all of our being, that is simply an aspect of how we are to glorify God. There is no glorifying of God apart from love to Him and for Him, yet there is no love for God if we do not seek His glory as He has taught us to seek His glory.

In thinking through what it means to glorify God, we must know that we cannot add to the glory of God and we cannot make God happier when we are being used to glorify Him. By analogy, we cannot add to the love of God when we love God or love others. It is not that we are adding to God because we cannot add to God. We cannot increase His happiness or joy or anything else. Glorifying God is not some higher order of good works that we are able to do in our own strength, but it must come from God or it will come from our flesh. We should always keep in mind the words of Jesus in John 15 when we are told that apart from Him we can do nothing. In that context we can do nothing spiritual or good apart from what we receive from Christ since we are the branches and He is the vine. The fruit from us must come from Him first as all we can do is totally dependant on Him. The fruit that we bear comes from Him first. We can only bear true fruit if we receive it from Him first. “As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me” (John 15:4).

The glory of God is a fruit that we bear when Christ dwells in us as our life and He works that glory in and through us. The glory of God is an aspect of the Great Commandment as there is nothing we do or can do that is not for the glory of God or the glory of self. If we seek the glory of God in a religious sense and yet our thinking of what it means to glorify God is really nothing but a work of the flesh, then we are not doing what we do to the glory of God. This is to turn a beautiful part of Christianity into a work just like the Pharisees turned all things into a work. Living and doing all to the glory of God must come from the inward man or it is simply an external work. This cannot be stressed too highly. As holiness is a grace so doing all for the glory of God is an aspect of holiness and must be by grace as well.

If it is true as Edwards sets out in the quote above that God seeks His own glory because He loves to see His own excellencies and glories set out in His works, then this should shock our minds to understanding that if we are to live for the glory of God then it is far more than just another work that we do. Glorifying God is not just something that we think may honor God, but it is doing what we do out of love for God and the result is that the excellencies and glories of God shine forth through us. We are but instruments through which His glory shines in and through. We do not do what we want and in our own strength and thus God is glorified, but God is glorified when it is His glory that shines through His people. This means that we must seek humility in order to be empty and broken people with empty and broken hearts in order that HIS glory shines through us and not our own. The glory of God is a subject which should make us focus on God and His glory, yet which should humble us deeply in the dust.

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Worship 30

August 11, 2016

John 4:24 “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

Psalm 51:17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise. Isaiah 57:15 For thus says the high and exalted One Who lives forever, whose name is Holy, “I dwell on a high and holy place, And also with the contrite and lowly of spirit In order to revive the spirit of the lowly And to revive the heart of the contrite.

Matthew 22:37 And He said to him, “‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’ 1 Corinthians 13:1 If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.

John 13:34 “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

1 Corinthians 10:31 Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

In the area of the discussion and/or arguments regarding worship, the Regulative Principle of Worship has taken center stage in circles that are concerned about biblical worship. However, until we come to grips with what it means to glorify God we will not understand the purpose of worship. If we do not understand the purpose of worship and how one is to glorify God, then we have no hope of fulfilling the Regulative Principle of Worship. The Regulative Principle of Worship has the basic idea that what God commands is the principle that regulates how man is to worship.

We have no real need to argue about that principle as stated in one sense, but we must deal with what does God command in worship. The primary thing He commands in worship is that we worship from the heart out of love. It does not matter if we have all the outward things lined up and doing them, but without true love for the true God that would be nothing more than the Pharisees did. Without love and the desire to glorify God as He has set out how we are to glorify Him there is no true worship. Jonathan Edwards put it this way: “God does not seek His own glory because it makes Him happy, to be honored and highly thought of, but because He loves to see Himself, His own excellencies and glories appearing in His works.”

The statement by Edwards (just above) gets at an aspect of worship that seems to have been forgotten in the modern day. Worship is not done in order to increase the happiness of God, but it is to be done in order to manifest the excellencies and glories of God. In other words, the primary purpose of worship is not for our own happiness or to increase the happiness of God, but the primary purpose of worship is to manifest the glory and glories of God. Worship, then, must be about God Himself and it is for God Himself. Worship, in one sense, is to seek the pleasure of God in seeking to glorify God. We glorify God not by trying to add something to Him or to His happiness, but by manifesting who He is and desiring His glory to be manifested in our hearts. We cannot glorify God when we sing His praises from the brain and the voice box, but only when He is the love of our hearts will His glory spill over in song and in life.

True worship can only come from the heart of love for God and true love for God can only come from God (I John 4:7-8). A real and true desire for His glory can only come from Christ who is the shining forth of His glory and in that He is the perfect image of His glory. The Lord Jesus Christ dwells in the heart of His people and is the life of His people, so we can safely know that apart from the glorious Lord Jesus Christ moving in the hearts of His people there is no true worship. True worship, then, must come from God first and foremost and it will always come through Christ. We must be careful to worship based on the truth of who God is in Christ and we must know that we cannot come to God other than by Christ. The Regulative Principle of Worship does not just regulate the external man, but the heart of man as well. We must not worship God in our own way, but also not in our own strength. True worship comes from the heart that God has justified and Christ is the life in. Christ came to reveal the Father, so true worship reflects that by worshipping God through and by Christ.

We can only shine forth the glory of God in worship if in fact it is the true God as revealed by Christ that is being shone forth. Christ, who is the shining forth of the glory of God, is necessary to true worship. The Spirit of Christ is necessary for worship as only He can work love and joy in our hearts. The Spirit of Christ is necessary for worship because only He reveals the truth of God in our hearts. It does not real good if we only follow the externals of the Regulative Principle, we must follow the internals as well. The internals include knowing God, loving God, and seeking His glory. These can only be done by the work of Christ in the soul.

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Romans 9 Study 2

August 10, 2016

Rom 9:1 I am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit, 2 that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh, 4 who are Israelites, to whom belongs the adoption as sons, and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Law and the temple service and the promises, 5 whose are the fathers, and from whom is the Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen. 6 But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel 7 nor are they all children because they are Abraham’s descendants, but: “THROUGH ISAAC YOUR DESCENDANTS WILL BE NAMED.” 8 That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are regarded as descendants. 9 For this is the word of promise: “AT THIS TIME I WILL COME, AND SARAH SHALL HAVE A SON.” 10 And not only this, but there was Rebekah also, when she had conceived twins by one man, our father Isaac; 11 for though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that God’s purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls, 12 it was said to her, “THE OLDER WILL SERVE THE YOUNGER.”

During the Old Testament and the New Testament people wanted to follow a certain bloodline. That is precisely what the Pharisees did in that they assumed that because they were born of a certain bloodline and in a certain nation that meant that they were of the truth. This is one of the reasons why the teaching of Jesus to Nicodemus was so shocking. Nicodemus was not only born an Israelite, but he was a leader among the Pharisees. In his mind he had the right bloodline and the right religion. However, he made the same mistake that so many do today. They do not see that it is all by the grace of God and not something that they were born with or can do.

The Pharisees were proud of their being able to trace their descent back to Abraham, yet they did not understand the promises to Abraham and his seed. According to Galatians 3:16-19, the promise to the seed of Abraham was Christ Himself and not to all the physical descendants of Abraham. Throughout the Old Testament we see that the vast majority of the nation of Israel was unfaithful to God who had made a national covenant with them, yet we also see a faithful line that endured through all the hardships. This faithful line was the line that was the physical line that came from Abraham and yet also stretched from Eve to Christ. The faithful seed (Christ) of Abraham was the seed of the woman who crushed the head of the serpent.

It is so hard to get rid of the notion that Christianity can be passed on from one generation to another by various means. This is clear when we look at the children of Isaac who was the child of promise to Abraham. From Isaac’s wife Rebekah the promised seed was passed on, but it only went to and through one of twins. This is something that all need to read with great care. The specific teaching of this passage of Scripture is that before the twins were born and before they had done anything good or bad, Rebekah was told that the older would serve the younger. But again, notice very carefully and with prayer that this was according to the purpose and choice of God and not because of the works of the two men. In fact, it appears that Esau might have been the more likable of the two and was certainly less conniving. But it is not according to how much a person may or may not be liked and it is not according to the works of a person. Instead, it is totally up to God who calls.

The context of this passage is still important. Paul is setting out why God’s promises to Israel should not be thought of as failing. God’s promise to bring forth the Messiah through the seed of promise did not fail. The promise can only be thought of as failing when it is thought that the promises of God were to a physical seed or a physical nation. The promises of God did not fail to His people and to the objects of His real promises. This is a vital issue as one continues through Romans chapter 9 as well as what has gone before. The focus must be on God and not man. The issue is not that all men should have a chance, but it is on who God is. The issue is not how could God’s promises faith because the nation of Israel was done away with, but it is on how the promises of God are based on His own choice and His own character and all of His true seed will be saved. For the moment, however, we must look directly at this passage of Scripture and not run from it. Before the twins were born (from all eternity in reality) and before they had done anything good or bad, Isaac was chosen over Esau. The older served the younger so that God’s purposes would stand. The focus must be on God Himself.

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Romans 9 Study 1

August 9, 2016

Rom 9:1 I am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit, 2 that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh, 4 who are Israelites, to whom belongs the adoption as sons, and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Law and the temple service and the promises, 5 whose are the fathers, and from whom is the Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen. 6 But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel 7 nor are they all children because they are Abraham’s descendants, but: “THROUGH ISAAC YOUR DESCENDANTS WILL BE NAMED.” 8 That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are regarded as descendants. 9 For this is the word of promise: “AT THIS TIME I WILL COME, AND SARAH SHALL HAVE A SON.” 10 And not only this, but there was Rebekah also, when she had conceived twins by one man, our father Isaac; 11 for though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that God’s purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls, 12 it was said to her, “THE OLDER WILL SERVE THE YOUNGER.”

The apostle Paul is setting out with several things in mind, but it is very clear that he is concerned that some might think that in turning from the nation of Israel that God had abandoned His promises. God cannot lie and His promises will never fail and cannot possibly fail. However, not all at that time and certainly not all today understand the nature of His promises. While there is the kinsman of Paul according to the flesh, he also spoke of brothers in Christ. The one (according to the flesh) were those that he shared national heritage with, yet the other (brothers of Christ and children of God) is something of a far greater importance.

Paul sets out in verse 6 to show that it is not the word of God that has failed. This is a very important teaching to grab a hold of it we are going to understand the New Testament. We must allow (so to speak) the New Testament to interpret the Old Testament or we will wrap ourselves in many problems. The word of God has not failed toward His promises because they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel. This is to say that there was and is a distinction between the Israelites. What Paul is going to point out is that there was and is a spiritual Israel and there was and is a physical Israel. For the moment, however, he goes on to show that not all the seed (descendants) of Abraham were spiritual Israel or the true children of God.

This is a vital point with some important implications. A person is not a child of God because one is born of a certain nation, a certain parentage, or a certain bloodline. One is only a child of God because that person is born from above by the will of God (John 1:12-13). Not the entire nation (each and every person) of Israel where the elect of God and not all of the seed of Abraham were the elect of God. It is not being the descendant of any particular person that determines this, but it is God who determines this. This is why we must look to Him alone rather than any other person or reason. It is God who saves by grace alone and not because of any other reason.

Paul moves on from Abraham and then shows how the seed came through Isaac, who was the child of promise, and not by all of his other children. It is through Isaac that the children were named, not any of the other children of Abraham. This is such an important point. Paul goes on to explain this even more. He tells us that it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but it is only the children of promise who are regarded as descendants. This is truly a magnificent point that all should consider in our day as well. The children of God are all children of promise which is to say that they are children of free-grace. The children of God are not picked out because they have Christian parents any more than in the Old Testament they were in some way descendants of Abraham. While people are always looking for reasons other than free-grace for why they are saved, there is simply no other reason at all.

Paul is driving the people of his day away from any consideration as to why they were saved other than the grace of God. The Israelites could not simply say that they were of the line that traced itself back to Abraham, because that was not the real issue. The Gentiles of that day could not look back and say that their parents were Christians or that they had a royal line passing through them, but all had to look to God. There is nowhere people can look and there is no ritual or hope in anything in our day either, but our only hope is that God will save us in Christ Jesus. It is Christ who is the true seed of Abraham. All who are in Christ are the seed of Abraham whether they are Jew or Gentile. It is Christ we must look to because all the promises are in Christ.

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The Church 6

August 9, 2016

Eph 1:22 And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

Colossians 1:24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of His body, which is the church, in filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions.

Ephesians 3:10 so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places. 3:21 to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.

Eph 4:12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ;

Eph 5:23 For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body. 24 But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything. 27 that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless. 29 for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, 32 This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church.

The chief end or the primary goal and purpose of the Church is the glory of God. In the eternal plan of God He planned and then through Christ purchased His Church for the purpose of glorifying His name. His chief end is not to save souls, but instead He saves to the praise of the glory of His grace. His chief end is not the comfort and wealth of His people, but instead that they would love Him and live for His glory. The Church is not delivered from hell and then set out to plan and live by its own power and wisdom, but instead all that it is and does is to be for His glory and that requires the Church to rest in Him and look to Him alone.

The absolute priority of the Church is to seek the glory of God in all that it does and it is to do so out of love. We cannot seek the glory of God in truth and reality if we do not love God and seek His glory. If we seek His glory (supposedly) out of a higher goal or a greater love, then we are not seeking Him out of love as set out in the Great Commandment. Our prayer lives in many ways reflect our true love. Of course this may be seen in our public prayer lives, but especially in our private prayer. In public prayer we may have learned proper words and perhaps some voice inflexions and so we sound as if we are really praying, but our hearts can be caught up with the applause of others or even self.

The Lord Jesus prayed for the glory of His Father just before He went to the cross, so this should teach us that what He taught the disciples about prayer (Matthew 6) was His practice as well. Since the Church is the body of Christ and He is the life of the Church, it is safe to assume that He will work the first petition in the hearts of His people. The first petition that He taught His people to pray was “hallowed be Your name.” This should be the breathing out of the desires and love of the people who are the Church. “With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints” (Eph 6:18). These two things must go together. We are to pray first and foremost for God’s name to be revered, stood in awe of, and glorified. Yet we are also to be on the alert to pray for the saints.

We can see how these things come together when we understand that the Church is the body of Christ and the temple of the Spirit and so we are to pray for the saints to love God and glorify God. The greatest thing that a person can have is the presence of God and so we are to pray that for the body of Christ with our hearts desiring His glory. When we pray for the Church and the saints that the Church consists of with a heart that loves God and His glory, we are praying for His name to be hallowed and the way He hallows His name is through His people. They are the vessels of clay that His glory dwells in. The Church and the glory of God go together. The Church, that is, the saints of God are the very dwelling place of Christ who is the very outshining of His glory. We should long for Him to come down and dwell among His people so that His glory would shine through His people more and more. It is a totally different concept to think of the Church as a building or a denomination.

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The Church 5

August 7, 2016

Eph 1:22 And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

Colossians 1:24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of His body, which is the church, in filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions.

Ephesians 3:10 so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places. 3:21 to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.

Eph 4:12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ;

Eph 5:23 For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body. 24 But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything. 27 that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless. 29 for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, 32 This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church.

The Church has the privilege of prayer because it is united to Christ, is the body of Christ, and Christ dwells in His people. The Church must never forget the Head of the Church when it comes to prayer, but instead it is the Head that gives them the Spirit of prayer and indeed is the Mediator of their prayers as well. Christ loves the Church and He nourishes His Church and cherishes it. Prayer can only be motivated and moved by love for God, which can only come to the soul when it is communicated to the soul by the Spirit of Christ. The Church should seek the living God through Christ for more and more of Himself and His presence that is in Christ.

We can see something about how people should pray for each other by the true nature of the Church. The essence of the Church is Christ and the love of the Church is for Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ dwells in each soul and He is the best thing for each soul. As members of the body should seek the Head for the true good of other members of the body, so they should pray that others would have Christ. It appears that praying for the physical problems of the congregation is about the only thing that people pray for, but it should be noted that there is at best only one instance in the epistles of that. Jesus healed people in the Gospels, but we don’t see prayer for those who had ailments as such. We do see the example of Paul in several cases where he prayed for the spiritual welfare of the people. It is also an old adage that when people are physically ill they are in a spiritual struggle. Therefore, when we see people that are ill we should pray for their spiritual strengthening.

Those who are united to Christ and love God and His glory know that the purpose for anything and all things is the glory of God. God saves souls to the praise of the glory of His grace. God established the Church that to Him would be all the glory. The Church is on earth “so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places” (Eph 3:10). This is a profound truth that we have to have taught to our hearts by Christ. The Church is on display so that the glory of God would be made known to beings in the heavenly places. In the context, this was what flowed out of the reason for Paul preaching the Gospel. All of this is in accordance with His eternal pleasure.

It should be clear that in light of God’s purposes and the essence of the Church that prayer must be different. Our first priority in prayer is the glory of God, but we must know that the Church is on display in order that God and His glory would be manifested to beings we know little to nothing about. Our obligation and privilege is to seek the Lord and to pray for His people to know Him and to grow up in Him. Prayer is part of how we equip the saints for service so that the body of Christ would be built up. The people of God need more and more of Christ in order that they would be established in Christ and that they would be strengthened to stand against the wiles of the devil. In our hearts we should seek for grace that we may pray for the body of Christ (believers) that they may have more of Christ. After all, He is true food and true drink for the soul of all who truly love Him.

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The Church 4

August 6, 2016

Eph 1:22 And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

Colossians 1:24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of His body, which is the church, in filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions.

Ephesians 3:10 so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places. 3:21 to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.

Eph 4:12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ;

Eph 5:23 For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body. 24 But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything. 27 that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless. 29 for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, 32 This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church.

In thinking through the issue of the Church, the focus must remain on the essence of the Church as being the body of Christ and the temple of Christ. When this point is out of focus or simply not taken into account as the essence of what the Church is, the concept and practice of being the Church will be taken in a man-centered direction. It simply is inevitable. The purpose of the Church cannot be anything different than the chief end of man, yet the Great Commission seems to be what people think of as the Great Commandment of men. Evangelism must be done out of love for God and be done out of love for His glory or it is not biblical evangelism. I would even submit that it may not be possible to practice biblical evangelism apart from an understanding of the essence of the Church as set out in the New Testament.

The Church is not the building that men build, but it is the spiritual body that Christ purchased and God builds. It is God that adds to the number of the Church and not how many people are talked into saying a prayer. There must be new hearts for men to become members of the body of Christ and not just a new commitment. A fleshly human being who is born dead in sin cannot simply become a member of the body of Christ when s/he decides to do so. This is something that God must do. A fleshly person cannot become a spiritual person by a mere decision. A dead person cannot become a person with life by a mere decision. God has to do the work and that work is making a person a new creation. The true Church is supernatural and is not simply a matter of natural people making natural decisions out of selfish concerns.

The Church must be seen as a body that consists of true believers or it will degenerate and be seen as some form of organization operating in the natural realm. The Church is the tabernacle of the glory of God because it is the very body and dwelling place of Christ who is the shining forth of the glory of God (Heb 1:3). When the true Church evangelizes, it must consider Christ who is its life and how He is to shine forth as the very glory of God shining forth in and through His people. It is not that evangelism is to be done for humanistic reasons primarily, but it is to be done because the body is full of His glory and it wants to spill over and shine out. True evangelism is done when the people that the Church consists of as the body of Christ want the glory that dwells among them to shine forth in other places as well.

The Church, as the body of Christ, must be seen as the place where the glory of God (Christ) dwells. One cannot do anything for the glory of God apart from Christ since Christ is the shining forth of the glory of God. As the physical body of Christ was the very tabernacle of the glory of God on earth then (John 1:14-16), so the spiritual body of Christ (the Church) is the very dwelling place of the glory of God on earth now. The Church glorifies God by being the Church and shining forth Christ in His strength by grace alone. The Church does not glorify God by its own methods and plans, but only in being the Church by the plan and grace of God.

This is utterly vital to take to heart, even into the depths of the heart. We do not glorify God by what we do, but He glorifies Himself by what He does in and through His people (His body, the Church). This is why (one reason) the Church must learn what it really is and how it exists to glorify God. The Church is first and foremost for the glory and pleasure of God Himself. The Church must realize that it is the dwelling place of God and it must be and do all for His pleasure. The body is to be at the disposal and pleasure of the head, so the Church is to be at the disposal and pleasure of its Head. The Church is not its own because it has been bought with a price. God is absolutely and utterly sovereign and that means His glory is sovereign. The Church cannot glorify God as such, but God glorifies Himself through the Church and beholds His own manifested glory in beholding His Son in the Church.

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The Church 3

August 5, 2016

Eph 1:22 And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

Colossians 1:24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of His body, which is the church, in filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions.

Ephesians 3:10 so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places. 3:21 to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.

Eph 4:12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ;

Eph 5:23 For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body. 24 But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything. 27 that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless. 29 for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, 32 This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church.

In thinking of the Church, the idea is not dealing with buildings or committees. The essence of the Church is not a denomination and it is not a legal entity. The very heart of what it means to be a church is to be the body of Christ. Fundamentally, in terms of Scripture, a local church is not a place to attend and it is not a series of duties that defines a church, but what distinguishes a true church from the false ones is Christ Himself. It is Christ Himself (not just a theoretical Christ and not just a doctrinal Christ) who is the Head of His body, the Church.

It is true that this point has already been made several times and most likely will be made several times more, but this is an essential point and needs to be hammered home over and over. We have lived in a culture that has pressured us until we conformed to ideas about “church” that are simply far from the biblical concept. Many conservative churches would agree with the idea that Christ Himself is the essence of the Church but in practice they deny that in several ways.

We can take the idea of church membership and examine it in light of Christ Himself being the essence of the Church. Becoming a member of a local church is now thought of in terms of saying a prayer or exercising the will and then saying you want to join. Others want people to know things and be doing certain things before the people are allowed to join. Still others want people to agree to certain confessional statements before they are allowed to join. But what does the essence of the Church teach us about this? A true believer is the church in one sense. A person does not join the church, but we have to at least recognize that when the Spirit regenerates the soul and the person is joined to Christ that person is the church. In terms of pure Scripture, a person does not join a church; the person is joined to the church by God. A person that is in Christ and Christ in that person means that the person is part of the Church.

In one sense this may not make a lot of difference in that people must know things in order to be considered a part of Christ. In other ways, however, the difference is huge. It is a complete change in thinking and how we are to view the Church. We do not grace a church by our joining it, but it is by free-grace that we become a new creation and as an aspect of the new creation we are created in Christ and are His body. Christ is the Head of the Church in all ways. He is “head over all things to the church, which is His body” (Eph 1:22-23). We see some of the meaning of that in Matthew 25 where what we do or don’t do for believers is what we do and don’t do for Christ. When Saul (later Paul) persecuted the Church as recorded in Acts 9, he was asked by Jesus why he (Saul) was persecuting Him (Jesus).

One great difference between a church that thinks of itself as biblical and a church that is biblical is how people are viewed and treated. One church might view people as those they are commanded to love and as such they are nice to the people. The biblical church views people as the church and as such they know that they are to treat the people as Christ in that sense. Even the conservative professing churches can become simply nice people doing things that churches are supposed to do without really being the body of Christ in the world. Churches without the understanding that they are the body of Christ think that they glorify God by being good and following the rules. Churches with a deep understanding that they are the body of Christ know that they glorify Christ when Christ manifests Himself through them. They are to seek Christ who is their hope of glory.

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