03.30.08
Posted in Tom Gilson at 11:07 pm by Tom Gilson
Is there any significant move of God in all of Scripture in which He did not work through a core of spiritual leaders?
I’ve been thinking about this for a while, and the only place I can think of where spiritual leaders were not active was in Judges, where “every man did what was right in his own eyes.” This was not a positive portrait. There was a cycle throughout that book: when God raised up spiritual leaders the nation did well, but between those times they fell into sin and suffered oppression from heathen nations.
The message of the Bible is one of relationship and community from start to finish. Every person is significant. I confess I usually breeze right through the Bible’s long genealogies. There was, however, a Wycliffe Bible Translators missionary in a tribal location–I can’t remember where just now–who saved translating the genealogies in Matthew and Luke for last. When he finished them, the people said, “Why did you save the best for last?” They understood the importance of individuals–people whose contribution might otherwise have been forgotten.
Nevertheless, communities always gather around leaders. Modern business organizations often send potential leaders to “assessment centers,” which include a variety of exercises to test their aptitude. One exercise commonly used is the “leaderless group.” Eight to twelve people, with no one in charge, are given a task to accomplish together. Somebody always emerges as the leader–unless more than one person does, in which there may be conflict over who takes the lead. The point is that every group has a leader.
God has apparently ordained it that way, in view of the witness we have of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, the Judges, Saul, David, Solomon, the rest of the kings, Esther, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, the prophets, John the Baptist, Peter, Paul, James, and most obviously Jesus Christ. The church is designed to operate under leaders. Paul considered it one of his first duties to appoint shepherds (Timothy and Titus are examples) and elders (as in Ephesus). In 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1 he laid out the crucial qualifications for church leaders. These are worth quoting here:
I Timothy 3 (ESV)
[Qualifications for Overseers]
1The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. 2 Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, 3 not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. 4 He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, 5 for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church? 6 He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. 7 Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil.
[Qualifications for Deacons]
8 Deacons likewise must be dignified, not double-tongued, not addicted to much wine, not greedy for dishonest gain. 9 They must hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. 10 And let them also be tested first; then let them serve as deacons if they prove themselves blameless. 11 Their wives likewise must be dignified, not slanderers, but sober-minded, faithful in all things. 12 Let deacons each be the husband of one wife, managing their children and their own households well. 13 For those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves and also great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.
In Titus 1, note how Paul made it a priority to make sure every church body had proper leaders in place:
[Qualifications for Elders]
This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you— 6 if anyone is above reproach, the husband of one wife, and his children are believers and not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination. 7 For an overseer, as God’s steward, must be above reproach. He must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or a drunkard or violent or greedy for gain, 8 but hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined. 9 He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.
Acts 6 provides another qualification list, in which men of wisdom, full of the Holy Spirit, are given tasks to help administrate the church. And God calls us to give honor to our spiritual leaders:
Hebrews 13:7: “Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith.”
1 Timothy 5:17-19: “Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching. For the Scripture says, ‘You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain,’ and, ‘The laborer deserves his wages.’ Do not admit a charge against an elder except on the evidence of two or three witnesses.”
Do we follow leaders blindly, then? Obviously not. Among the leaders listed above, not all were worthy–especially among the kings of Judah and Israel. The 1 Timothy 5 passage just cited recognizes that some leaders will face accusations. We can all name pastors–famous and not-so-famous–who have fallen.
The passage also warns us not to be rash about entertaining accusations, and to allow leaders some benefit of the doubt unless evidence of their failure is quite clear. This is not because leaders get special privileges, or because they should be allowed more freedom to err. Quite the opposite, in fact. It seems to me the reason Scripture calls us to be slower to accuse leaders is because they are in a uniquely vulnerable position. By virtue of their position, they are targets–targets for disagreement, for complaints, and for accusations. Scripture calls on God’s people to take some of that pressure off our shepherds. If they do succumb to sin, doctrinal error, or other leadership failures, they have further to fall than those who are not leaders. Most business organizations will not dismiss an employee who commits private sin on his or her time off. Churches certainly will–and rightly so, in many instances. Sin in spiritual leaders is very serious–which is all the more reason to be deliberate about how we handle it.
The sum of all this is that God leads through men and women He has uniquely called and positioned for the purpose. This is for the good of each member of the community and for the building up of all God’s people (Eph. 4). We can all grow in the gifts God has given us–and we can all grow in the leadership roles God has called us to, whatever those may be. God provides leaders to help us all get there.
This is not to say that everything depends on just one person. The Bible provides for church structures with leaders functioning at various levels with differing responsibilities. More on that next time…
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03.24.08
Posted in Bible Study, Bryan Dunn at 7:59 am by Bryan Dunn
The Relation of the King to the Law (Matt. 5:17-7:6; Luke 6:27-42)
As an introduction to the ‘Sermon on the Mount’ portion, the groundwork of everyone who had heard the Lord speak was aware that He demanded a perfection beyond reach of all people. Over the years the Pharisees had sought to assist those who sought righteousness through the law by codifying it into 365 prohibitions and 248 commandments. Then, the Pharisees imposed their code as a yoke on their followers.
What did Christ do? He needed to show that the Pharisees righteousness didn’t conform to the demands of the Law. So keeping their tradition did not make one righteous. He would also show why observing these Pharisaic rules didn’t fulfill the law of God.
Right from the start, Jesus states He is not against the Law of God. He didn’t stand in opposition to the prophets that were sent by God either. In fact, Jesus didn’t come to even ease the burdens put on folks who followed the Law! God set down His Laws and those demands were unalterable because they are a revelation of God’s Own holiness. God didn’t demand anything more of any man than He Himself could fulfill. If man wanted to be in a right standing before a holy God, man needed to walk upright and holy!
The Pharisees were concerned about righteousness, and that is a good thing. However, they had a misconception of what the law actually intended and demanded. Because of that it was impossible for them to receive the righteousness that was acceptable to God.
Us? Well – we judge a lot by externals. Then we’re good at making decisions based on sound bites. Is that all? Jesus lays it on the line here – He knew what questions they were thinking of, then tells it like it is. If we had the opportunity to ask someone of importance (say, the president…) of the issues/reason behind the actual decision, the thought process that went into what eventually the decision was – would we be surprised at the response? Are we quick with knee-jerk reactions?
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03.23.08
Posted in Tom Gilson at 4:57 pm by Tom Gilson
The religious and political leaders thought they had Jesus all figured out. I doubt there’s anything in history or literature to match the irony of that.
They expected was the kind of thing they usually saw during a trial and execution: fear, self-protection, defensiveness; or possibly something like guilt, regret, or remorse. They thought they were in control. They thought it was about a political power struggle, in which Jesus was, to some of them, a nuisance, and to others a pawn. They thought they were taking care of themselves.
They had it all wrong.
It started a few days before Jesus’ arrest, when the high priest, no friend of Jesus, was tapped by God to utter an inadvertent prophecy:
“You know nothing at all. Nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.” He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad. (John 11:49-52)
The context of the whole begins many months earlier, though, when Jesus made it known that he had come for an unexpected purpose:
From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. (Matthew 16:21)
When they arrested him they were on his agenda. It was not that he had a death wish; he dreaded his coming ordeal. But he knew his purpose, to stand in through his death for the deaths of many others. The crowd had it in for him; they did not realize they were setting up a perfect illustration of what Jesus’ death was all about: he died so that others might live:
Now at the feast the governor was accustomed to release for the crowd any one prisoner whom they wanted. And they had then a notorious prisoner called Barabbas. So when they had gathered, Pilate said to them, “Whom do you want me to release for you: Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?” For he knew that it was out of envy that they had delivered him up. Besides, while he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent word to him, “Have nothing to do with that righteous man, for I have suffered much because of him today in a dream.” Now the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus. The governor again said to them, “Which of the two do you want me to release for you?” And they said, “Barabbas.” Pilate said to them, “Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” They all said, “Let him be crucified!” And he said, “Why, what evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Let him be crucified!” (Matthew 27:15-23)
And Pilate let Barabbas go free, while Jesus was executed in his place.
They mocked the king by pretending he was a king:
Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor’s headquarters, and they gathered the whole battalion before him. And they stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and put a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” And they spit on him and took the reed and struck him on the head. And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him and led him away to crucify him. (Matthew 27:27-31)
While he was on the cross, others mocked him further:
And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, “You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” So also the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked him, saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him. For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” (Matthew 27:39-43)
They derided him for not saving himself; they did not know he was saving them. They thought his claim to be the Son of God was dying along with him; they did not know it was about to be proved with unparalleled power.
Pilate and the Jewish leaders got into a squabble about the charge under which he was to be executed.
Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” Many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Aramaic, in Latin, and in Greek. So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but rather, ‘This man said, I am King of the Jews.’” Pilate answered, “What I have written I have written.” (John 19:19-22)
This was all political: Pilate was trying to embarrass them, to show that Rome had power over anyone among them who seemed to be someone, and especially over their Establishment. In the process, he got it right: Jesus is king of the Jews and of all creation.
The ultimate irony was revealed on Sunday morning. On Friday, Jesus looked like the weak, despicable loser. He died an agonizing and humiliating death. He was wrapped in thick grave clothes and interred behind a heavy stone in a tomb. He lay there lifeless for two nights.
Then he stood up.
He stood up, and the stone rolled away, and he appeared in his true power and glory as the conqueror of all humiliation and the master over suffering and death.
There’s a lesson for us in all this. Jesus had a plan all along. They thought they were dealing him on their terms, when all along he was dealing with them on his terms. But he was obviously not perpetrating a power play; he was sacrificing himself for their good, and for ours. The lesson for us, then, is that God will deal with us on his terms, too; not for the sake of power but for the sake of our good, and to submit to his terms is very, very good. Or, the next time you think you have God figured out and you can set the terms for him, remember he doesn’t work that way–his way is better.
You see, we live in irony, too: the greatest freedom and life come by submitting to the one who died for us.
(Scripture quotations from the English Standard Version)
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03.21.08
Posted in Tom Gilson at 9:35 am by Tom Gilson
From a blog post on Thinking Christian a few weeks ago:
Make no mistake, the cross of Jesus Christ is a drastic solution to a serious problem, and the problem is our fundamental distance from the God who created and loves us. He loves us enough that He was willing (”for the joy set before him”) to sacrifice Himself to solve our problem. There is no other solution for such a deep difficulty as we are in. It was a very costly solution. Do we trivialize our own faults? Do we recognize the sacrifice by which we are freed from them?
Jimmy Fauntleroy, from the band Chasing Elvis that has twice visited our church, sings:
Three crosses on a hill, I had forgotten now I never will
Three crosses on a hill; there’s yours and mine and there’s another still….
This is the medicine that goes deep within your veins
Kills the cancer [but] has a tendency to intensify the pain
This is the marriage of purity and shame
This is a bloody war–it ain’t no game!
Life was won for us by direct confrontation. Purity and shame met on the cross, and purity defeated shame. Life met death, and life won. The result: the cancer is cured! But what is this “tendency intensify the pain” about? Unfortunately we can’t put the full context of Jimmy’s overall message here. He would also say, and many of us in the church saw how he exemplifies, how much this cure intensifies joy and life. The pain, I take it, is what we feel when facing our fallenness, the big and little ways we need the “medicine that goes deep within your veins.” It is one of the ways we all participate in that mighty, direct confrontation.
Jesus’ death led to our life. We die to self, to live the fullest life. The deepest joy comes from overcoming the deepest pains. This is Good Friday, the day of remembering the deepest pains. But God is an overcomer, and Sunday’s coming!
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03.18.08
Posted in Gene Cornett, Sunday Sermons at 5:16 pm by Gene Cornett
From February 23rd through March 3rd, as many of you know, I was on a mission trip to Jaigaon, India. I was serving with Global Mosaic International, which was started by Seaford member Evelyn Biles. I have sensed for years that I needed to return to doing short-term mission trips, but it has been difficult to get away for different reasons. However, when Evelyn approached me about this trip, I sensed that is was right to go. My assigned task was to teach leadership to Bhutanese church planters. Their spiritual hunger and their passion to reach the country of Bhutan for Christ challenged and humbled me.
I know that many of you prayed for me while I was away. God blessed our trip so strongly. It is difficult to put into words what the trip meant for me. Though I might have guessed at some of the things that I would learn while I was away, these lessons are now strongly rooted in my heart and mind. I will mention only one here. You can read the rest in an extended version of this article on the church’s blog on the website.
Every Christian who is serious about their walk with Christ needs cross cultural ministry experiences. For one, they expose weaknesses. Not everyone could or should travel as far as I did. However, we need to put ourselves in other situations and cultures. In some cases you can do this by just walking across the street or at most traveling across town, since the world has come to us. The most effective way to evaluate the culture you are in, is to encounter one different from your own. For me this trip was a kind of spiritual boot camp. Traveling for two days, stepping out of a vehicle into very unfamiliar surroundings, setting up in a strange hotel, eating strange food and serving in a different culture was hard at first. Yet, I now count the experience as one of the highlights of my life. I saw God at work in the hearts of people who live in very different ways in a remote part of the world. It has shown me something new about God and it exposed weaknesses in my own walk with Christ. They may not sound very pleasant but I greatly treasure the experience.
Additional Lessons from Jaigaon:
1. Seaford Baptist has international caliber teachers and leaders within our church body. Evelyn Biles is one of them. I had to go to the other side of the world to hear her teach. I don’t know if she has time given her extensive responsibilities, but I hope that we can give the whole Seaford body an opportunity to hear from her.
2. We have a responsibility to care about the needs of people around the world. I fear much of the time we don’t think about much beyond our own community, I know sometimes I don’t.
3. Stuff does not make us happy. We need food, clothes, shelter, meaningful work and good relationships. Many of the people I worked with possessed a small fraction of what I possess materially, yet they seemed spiritually on fire for Christ and content with their standard of life.
4. It is important for us to stretch ourselves, to get out of our comfort zones. Every morning I heard an imam singing the Muslim call to prayer. An hour later I heard Hindu music blaring just outside of my hotel and all of this by 6:00 AM. There was the equivalent of a loud block party going on right under my window nightly. I was the only white man I saw for 6 days. I struggled at first to relate to the Malaysians on my own team at raucous dinner celebrations each evening. I fumbled through speaking to Indian and Bhutanese pastors older than me. I wondered what possible help I could offer them. Yet these struggles now are part of what made this experience so dear to me.
5. Serving in a culture where Christians are obviously in the minority is a fascinating and a sobering experience. In Jaigaon, four major world religions were present that I was aware of. Christians would have been the smallest minority. Probably in order were Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, and then Christians. I did not see overt persecution or violence. However, several of the young people I met had accepted Christ at the price of losing their family of origin.
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03.17.08
Posted in Bible Study, Bryan Dunn at 7:36 pm by Bryan Dunn
Christ’s Authority to Interpret the Law - The Subjects (Matt 5:3-16; Luke 6:20-26)
In this sermon, Christ described the characteristics of a righteous man (Matt. 5:3-16). Then He repudiates the Pharisaic interpretation of the law (Matt. 5:17-48). Then He correctly interprets the Mosiac law and shows what God demands. Later (Matt. 6:1 – 7:6) He rejects the Pharisaic practices of the law and shows that they actually violate the demands of the law. Lastly (Matt. 7:7-29) He instructs those who desired to enter the kingdom. Perhaps it is best to conclude that the Sermon on the Mount was God’s exposition of the holiness of God.
So, to set some ground rules, beliefs that I have on this which you may or may not adherer to, here’s where I stand on this particular passage of God’s Word. And, just FYI, this more than likely applies to the rest of the Word as well.
I don’t see this as a disjointed set of thoughts that Jesus just threw together, a shotgun approach to how to be blessed or happy. I also don’t see this as an end all be all listing of what to do to guarantee success in the Christian walk. What I DO see is a set of harmonious items in perfect unity that have a definitive start and a certain end. It’s the first ‘sermon’ – if you will – to Galilee that gathers previous teachings of The Master and delivers them in a startling way. Too often we ‘break it down’ and attempt to apply each one in a silo approach to equate to successful living in Christ. Let’s look at it anew…
Their Character
John had preached and demanded that people produce fruit in keeping with repentance. He wanted evidence of a new life as proof of their faith. Now, we see the beginning of Christ’s teaching, commonly known as the Beatitudes. These will describe the basis for blessing in ones life, but if you note they also describe the characteristics of righteousness of a person as well. Blessed can be translated Happy as well. Of note – when the Lord spoke of happiness (blessedness) here, He related it to holiness. Happiness and holiness are inseparably united in His kingdom!
1 – poor in spirit. Looking up the word ‘poor’ in the Greek we find
NT:4434 ptochos (pto-khos’); from ptosso (to crouch; akin to NT:4422 and the alternate of NT:4098); a beggar (as cringing), i.e. pauper (strictly denoting absolute or public mendicancy, although also used in a qualified or relative sense; whereas NT:3993 properly means only straitened circumstances in private), literally (often as noun) or figuratively (distressed):
KJV - beggar (-ly), poor.
(Biblesoft’s New Exhaustive Strong’s Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary. Copyright © 1994, 2003 Biblesoft, Inc. and International Bible Translators, Inc.)
What does that mean for us? We have no merit or righteousness of our own to stand on before God. I can offer nothing of myself to earn entrance into His kingdom. I’m utterly dependent upon God.
Here, the Lord is contrasting true righteousness and the righteousness taught by the Pharisees and learned from their traditions. That Pharisaic righteousness made them exceedingly proud and it was often offered to God as evidence that they were OK. Christ said the person that showed the righteousness He taught would be accepted into His kingdom.
2 – those who mourn. This is often expressed in Scripture (i.e., Ps. 51 or Dan. 9:3-5) as confession of sin. Poor in spirit recognized nothing good in them, mourning acknowledged the lack of righteousness to God and confession of their sin to the One that they had sinned against.
Contrast again to the Pharisees. They persuaded those that believe that they were righteous and had no sin that they needed to acknowledge. That is the opposite of what Christ is teaching here, so those that mourn are promised Christ’s comfort (forgiveness of sin based not on their own works, but the work He had done because they confessed/acknowledged the sin and asked for forgiveness).
3 – those who are meek. Again, we can review a couple of men who were characterized as meek in Scripture (Moses – Num. 12:3; Paul – 2 Cor. 10:1) and see that God used these men mightily to proclaim His message.
What is meekness? Being a doormat for others? Nah – it is NOT adopting a low view of oneself or discrediting the position, the authority, that God has given to the individual. Meekness recognizes the authority of God and submits itself to every expression of it. Meekness and obedience are kissing cousins – they go hand in hand. Meekness has the character of unquestioning submission.
Here, Christ is asking for obedience by submitting to His commands and will instead of our own, or any one else’s (like the Pharisees). Those that do will be welcome in His kingdom.
4 – they hunger and thirst for righteousness. We can see David, Moses and Paul among those that displayed this. According to 1 Peter 2:2 Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation every believer should look like this. Christ promised that these folks would be satisfied.
The Pharisees didn’t want true righteousness, they were already satisfied with their experience so they never sought after anything more.
Read the rest of this entry »
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03.02.08
Posted in Audio & Podcasts (Sermons) 2008, Media at 2:56 pm by Bryan Dunn
March 30, 2008 - Sermon Title: Of Gyroscopes and Gallop Polls (Part 1) - A Place to Call Home - Gene Cornett
March 23, 2008 - Sermon Title: A Church After God’s Heart (Part 3) - Legacy of Faithfulness to God - Jack Duffer
March 16, 2008 - Sermon Title: A Church After God’s Heart (Part 2) - Transparency Before God - Jack Duffer
March 9, 2008 - Sermon Title: A Church After God’s Heart (Part 1) - Passion for God - Jack Duffer
March 2, 2008 - Unleashing the Power of Prayer - Part 2 - Aaron West
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