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Is It Enough To Say I’m Sorry? or, Does

June 1, 2017Written by Rick Shrader

Is It Enough To Say I’m Sorry? or, Does Grace Cover It All?

by Rick Shrader

We’ve all heard it and we’ve all done it. We even forced our little ones to say “I’m sorry” to another child who has been hurt in some way. We’ve also forgiven those little ones for things that are serious sins in an adult. A two-year-old may steal another child’s toy three or four times in an hour (“mine!”) and be “forgiven” by the nursery worker. Yet stealing by an adult must be dealt with in a more adult way. Recently, FALN terrorist Oscar Lopez-Rivera said he was sorry for killing and bombing and now is honored in a parade. Why is it more serious as adults than as children when we merely repeat the words, “I’m sorry?”

A few years ago a woman wrote an article for Christianity Today titled, “How Should the Church Handle Adultery?”¹ She took as her example John 8:1-12, the woman caught in adultery, as the church’s example of how to handle a case of adultery. She likened the Pharisees of the story to “church people” and “members of the body of Christ” who “find more pleasure in execution than in restoration.” As to Jesus saying, “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone” [sic], she writes, What about you, what have you done?” Then to Jesus’ final words, “Neither do I [condemn you]. Go and sin no more” [sic], she writes, “Jesus’ final word to this adulterous woman gives a death blow to the self-righteous heart in the body of Christ. The self-righteous heart in the church is evident when we as believers seek to bring justice to every sin without taking the time to see the sinner. How can we let adultery go unpunished? Is it easy? Of course not, but the church must follow the example of our Savior. . . But I am afraid that this cannot happen until we have a real encounter with the grace and mercy of God.”

I don’t find these words uncommon today. Many churches do not deal with overt sin pleading the grace and mercy of God. Was this not the thinking of the Corinthian church when, in their prideful way, they failed to deal with adultery and Paul said to them, “Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?” (1 Cor. 5:6). Then at the end of the chapter he writes, “Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.” Now, to be fair, we must also remember that by the time Paul wrote the second letter the adulterous man had evidently truly repented and Paul then instructed the church, “Sufficient to such a man is this punishment, which was inflicted of many. So that contrariwise ye ought rather to forgive him, and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow” (2 Cor. 2:6-7). Yet the point to be made is that the church did in fact “inflict” a “punishment” for the sin of adultery until true repentance was made. In addition, Paul describes what true repentance looks like after the church repented of this and other sins, “For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter” (2 Cor. 7:11).

As a pastor I have, after having to deal with sin in the church, addressed the offender and the whole church by saying, “We believe that sin is real but we also believe that forgiveness is real.” We can’t take sin lightly as if it were just a mistake about a recipe or a ball game score. We must seek true repentance. And neither can we not forgive when true repentance has been shown. In all we must not avoid the Biblical process.

Some doctrinal perspective

Too often we speak of things such as grace, mercy, forgiveness, love, sin, and self-righteousness, with definitions that fit our current culture but not necessarily with the Bible. In major theology works sin is dealt with in the section called Hamartiology, the study of sin. Within that section one will find a section on Sanctification, the ongoing process of putting away sin in the Christian life. The views on sanctification can run from legalism on one extreme to antinomianism (license) on the other. Historically these differences have made denominations because they formulate views on eternal security. When there is too much justification in sanctification one becomes legalistic. When there is too much sanctification in justification, one becomes antinomian.

Charles Ryrie begins his section on the Christian and sin by writing, “Becoming a Christian does not exempt one from sinning nor from obedience to the law of Christ. To say it does is to fall into one or both of the common errors concerning the Christian and sin. The one is a false perfectionism and the other antinomianism.”² Wayne Grudem makes the traditional division of sanctification: positional, progressive, and final, and begins by writing, “Now we come to a part of the application of redemption that is a progressive work that continues throughout our earthly lives. It is also a work in which God and man cooperate, each playing distinct roles. This part of the application of redemption is called sanctification: Sanctification is a progressive work of God and man that makes us more and more free from sin and like Christ in our actual lives.”³ In this section Grudem speaks about “corporate sanctification,”⁴ by which he means the necessity of the whole body of Christ helping the sinning brother.

The point here is that today we seem to be leaning much more toward antinomianism than to legalism. Many are reacting to what they believe was harsh treatment of sin by the church in the past. Yet in an antinomian era all direct dealing with sin in the church would seem harsh. We do not doubt that sin has been dealt with in an unloving way at times. But the believer cannot continue in sin as if he cannot have victory over it because our Lord said that he can (Rom. 6:6-18). Neither should he continue in sin as if God doesn’t care because the Bible says He does (Rom. 6:1, 15).

Is “sorry” enough?

The answer is yes and no. If we use that word as a two-year-old uses it, no, it is not enough. A two-year-old cannot understand the unfailing love of a parent nor the process of the Holy Spirit in the heart. He can only understand obedience and he is doing what his parent has asked. But even a new believer can understand that such an answer is not a real admission of sin. There has to be more to “sorry” than mere words. “Godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death” (2 Cor. 7:10). David cried to God concerning his adultery, “Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgression: and my sin is ever before me. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight” (Psa. 51:2-4).

“Sorry” is part of the word “sorrow” and Paul said that godly sorrow does bring about true repentance. If the word “sorry” were the conclusion of the sorrow and repentance process and a true confession of the heart, then such an expression would be accepted. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). “Confess” (homologeō) means “to say the same thing.” Confession is true as long as we are saying the same thing about our sin as God says!

Here are a few things to remember when we confess our sins. First, as believers, we are forgiven all our sins, past, present, and future, or, as John puts it, “and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). We are not asking God to save us again each time we confess our sin. Sin, however, destroys our fellowship with God even as His own child. “If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth” (1 John 1:6). True confession is vital for fellowship with God.

Second, true repentance is never late but late repentance is seldom true. That’s why Paul admonished, “let not the sun go down upon your wrath” (Eph. 4:26). When we have sinned we ought to be under great conviction by the Holy Spirit. We cannot stand to go on another day without confession to God. How many of us have awakened in the middle of the night as the Spirit brought our faults to mind and have gotten out of bed and gone to our knees in repentance? Then, returning to our bed we could say, “For so he giveth his beloved sleep” (Psa. 127:2).

Third, God always hears, forgives, and restores because of true confession, but the scars from sin may last a life-time. Moses still could not enter the promised land because of His sin of smiting the rock in the desert. David “did that which was right in the eyes of the LORD . . . Save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite” (2 Kings 15:5). Even John Mark had to wait years for Paul to be able to trust him again with missionary work, and only then did he become “profitable to me for the ministry” (2 Tim. 4:11). There is a difference between forgiveness and fitness. Unfortunately sin comes in quickly and breaks things, and the scars from the break take time to heal and that time depends on the nature of the break. A harsh word may take only a conversation to heal, but unfaithfulness in marriage will take more than that. Some sins have deeper roots than others and take time to heal.

Fourth, as we get older, though our sins may not be as overt as when we were young, because of our years of walking with God and enjoying fellowship with Him, even the smallest sins pierce us more deeply. Grudem said this well,

As Christians grow in maturity, the kinds of sin that remain in their lives are often not so much sins of words or deeds that are outwardly noticeable to others, but inward sins of attitudes and motives of the heart—desires such as pride and selfishness, lack of courage or faith, lack of zeal in loving God with our whole hearts and our neighbors as ourselves, and failure to fully trust God for all that he promises in every situation. These are real sins! They show how far short we fall of the moral perfection of Christ.⁵

This is the goal that we all should be striving to attain.

Is “grace” enough?

Again the answer is yes and no. We should know and never doubt that God has forgiven us all our sins. “The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us [present tense, continually] from all sin” (1 John 1:7). “Wherefore he is able to save them to the uttermost [lit. entirely] that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them” (Heb. 7:25). On the other hand, no, or not yet. Though we are positionally sanctified in Christ and secure, we are not done with sin in this life. Our progressive sanctification continues until we receive a resurrected, glorified body. As it is often said, we were saved from the penalty of sin at salvation; we are being saved from the power of sin during our Christian life here on earth; and we will be saved from the presence of sin in heaven (see Heb. 9:24-28).

We can remember these things about our eternal security and our progressive sanctification. First, God loves us and so He chastens us as dear children. “For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?” (Heb. 12:6-7). His grace does not leave us alone with our sin as believers but deals with our sin, “that we might be partakers of his holiness” (Heb. 12:10). It is not the grace of God that knowingly ignores the sin of fellow believers.

Second, there is a difference between parental love with procrastination and parental love with instruction. A parent never stops loving his/her child regardless of the transgression. Human love (storgē) illustrates God’s love and grace toward His children. But what parent doesn’t instruct and train the child and apply stricter training as the child gets older? We may have greater patience with the new Christian who really doesn’t know yet how to walk the Christian life. But that is no excuse for the mature Christian who knows better. Though he is no less a beloved brother, his knowing sin becomes more serious.

Third, it is not showing grace to a person to ignore, overlook, or not deal with known sin. God does not do this with us. Why should we think that we should do this with other believers? Some may think that when we sing “Just As I Am” or when we say “God accepts you just as you are,” that we are saying that we don’t need to deal with sin. But they are mistaken. Only in the new birth experience do I come “Just As I Am.” It is true, “Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to thy cross I cling” when it comes to how we come to Christ for salvation. But this is not true in sanctification. God does not accept us just as we are when it comes to Christian growth, maturity, and personal holiness. It would be parental neglect if He did! Rather, God will not let us alone. He will prune us, chastise us, correct us, and teach us to be more like Christ. “But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Pet. 3:18). “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world” (Tit. 2:11-12).

Fourth, when we bear one another’s burden we are fulfilling the law of Christ (Gal. 6:2). If we are spiritual we will seek to restore a sinning brother who is overtaken in a fault, considering ourselves lest we be overtaken in the same kind of thing (Gal. 6:1). Paul goes on to say that though we all have our own burdens (phortion, “freight”), we must work at bearing one another’s burden (baros, “weight”). To say that we love someone so much that we would never make a judgment about their moral failure, is not to love at all. It may be to escape the responsibility and make it easier on ourselves. We would never agree that a parent loved her child so much that she could never discipline him really showed love.

And so . . .

Ryrie ended his chapter on sanctification with this great quote from J.C. Ryle,

We may take comfort about our souls if we know anything of an inward fight and conflict. It is the invariable companion of genuine Christian holiness . . . Do we find in our heart of hearts a spiritual struggle? Do we feel anything of the flesh lusting against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh, so that we cannot do the things that we would? Are we conscious of two principles within us, contending for the master? Do we feel anything of war in our inward man? Well, let us thank God for it! It is a good sign. It is strongly probable evidence of the great work of sanctification . . . Anything is better than apathy, stagnation, deadness, and indifference.⁶

So let us do the hard thing. Let us truly bear one another’s burden and so fulfill the law of Christ. And let us also grow in grace putting away our own sins and becoming more like Christ in our own lives.

Notes:

Domeniek L. Harris, “How Should the Church Handle Adultery?” Christianity Today, November, 2013.
Charles Ryrie, Basic Theology (Wheaton: Victor Books, 1987) 230.
Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994) 746.
Ibid., 756.
Ibid., 753.
Ryrie, 234.

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Human Nature, America, and the Church

April 29, 2017Written by Rick Shrader

Human Nature, America, and the Church

by Rick Shrader

America and, therefore, the Christian church are experiencing an upheaval unique to the present age but unlike any phenomenon in recent history. Cultural watchers have described it as post-Christian, post-modern, post-morality, slouching toward Gomorrah, God is dead, and also with Biblical terminology such as the great apostasy, the one-world church, the harlot of Revelation, etc. It is difficult to deny that something cataclysmic is happening in our generation.

It is almost as if we have two countries within a country. Not that either one is thoroughly Christian, but one is somewhat conservative while the other is very liberal and immoral. The effects of the recent election left the liberal side out of power and threatened with losing the gains that they had made over the last eight years (actually over the last twenty years). During that time the country had been brought to the brink of moral bankruptcy. Having been brought to a halt, or at least to a slow down, their anger is more than obvious. This anger seems to be directed toward the current president and a few others, but they are not the real reason for the anger. The real reason is that their thirst for godlessness is being threatened and they cannot tolerate the thought of that. They have tasted of the immorality and libertine spirit and they, like addicts, desire more and more.

At the same time there is always a general morality among a more conservative though not necessarily Christian side. America like other moral countries in history has been blessed with a legacy greatly influenced by Christianity and the Bible. This influence has been passed on generation by generation and has been taught in the homes, churches, and schools. It is not that all its advocates are personally believers in Jesus Christ, for they are not. But they have enjoyed the moral capital of Christianity for generations and have seen its blessed influence on them and their children. They want it to continue. So they vote for an ideal, not a man. The men in office come and go while the moral temperature of the county remains for generations. But that morality is protected by laws made by men in office. They would like to see their grandchildren have the same advantages they have had. So they have voted for the platform even though the office holders may be less than stellar.

But why has liberal America reacted in such ungodly ways in the last one hundred days? We should not be surprised at the answer.

The human nature

The Scriptures teach that human beings are fallen creatures, i.e., that they are sinful from birth, are controlled by their own sinful nature, and are under the judgment of God. The Scriptures teach sin came into the world and into the human nature through the sin of one man and one woman, Adam and Eve (Gen. 3:1-7; Rom. 5:12). Though man was created sinless and in fellowship with God the Creator, he sinned by disobeying God and not only became sinful himself, but passed that sin on to all his posterity in a sinful nature (Psa. 51:5). Paul spends the first three chapters of Romans proving that everyone who has ever lived or will live is a thoroughly sinful person and under the judgment of God. His concluding words are a recap of Psalm 14:1-3 and are these:

“As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:

There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.

They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

Their throat is an open sepulcher; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips:

Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness:

Their feet are swift to shed blood:

Destruction and misery are in their ways:

And the way of peace have they not known:

There is no fear of God before their eyes” (Rom. 3:10-18).

In chapter one of Romans, Paul condemns homosexuality in all its forms and concludes that chapter with these words:

“Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whispers,

Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,

Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:

Who, knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them” (Rom. 1:29-32)

The Biblical lists such as these could be multiplied over, from the Old Testament and others like these from the New Testament. The sin of Adam and Eve had immediate effect on them as it does on all their offspring. They were estranged from God, they were dead spiritually and began to die physically, and would eventually die eternally without forgiveness. They immediately knew they had sinned and were naked and sought some covering for their sin.

Since that first sin of humans, things have gotten worse and worse. Sin grew so fast in the first generations that God had to destroy the whole world with a flood and start again. Yet it took no time for Noah to become drunk and for his children to sin. Jesus said that in the end times it would be like it was in the days before the flood (Matt. 24:37-39). Peter uses the judgment at the flood as a warning of God’s coming judgment (2 Pet. 2:5) and both Peter and Jude use God’s judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah as an example of coming judgment (2 Pet. 2:6; Jude 7).

Man is so steeped in sin that he cannot control it and its desires. Paul said they “walk in the vanity of their mind, having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness” (Eph. 4:17-19). Without salvation which is in Christ Jesus, these poor souls will perish when Christ returns, “In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power” (2 Thes. 1:8-9). The sinfulness of our nature is nothing to be ignored, in fact, our sin nature is not given the respect that it deserves.

America

As we get closer to the return of Jesus Christ ( and we are closer than we’ve ever been before), we know the world will become worse and worse though it hardly seems possible. America has been and could still be a great blessing in the world. It has protected and fed the world, it has blessed the world with belief in God and the promotion of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It has spent more money and personnel for the cause of Christ around the world than any country in history. But God doesn’t have grandchildren. Faith doesn’t automatically apply from one generation to the next. Faith can be lost in a generation.

The crying that we hear daily from the world is the fear that their indulgences may be taken away. They have indeed been slouching toward Gomorrah for generations and have grown up in a culture unknown to their Christian forefathers. Language that was once known to be inappropriate is now used regularly in public. Pictures in theaters are rated so that adults can see pornography by permission. Adultery, fornication, homosexuality, sex change, transgender orientation and further sins of the flesh have become commonplace and in fact are now protected by law. Indecency has become the decent, profanity has become the standard.

Examples are too numerous to try to describe. Sex change has been made glamorous by Bruce Jenner; the Boy Scouts have invited homosexual participants; Disney makes pro-homosexual movies like Beauty and the Beast, Little Mermaid, Finding Dory, and Forces of Evil; College campuses are removing homecoming kings and queens with “Royals;” bathrooms are legally opened to anyone who feels they are a certain gender today; schools offer books to children such at Toni the Tampon to teach boys to become girls; the LGBTQ Nation writes about a Father & Daughter becoming a Woman & Son; and on and on it goes.

In addition, America protects the killing of unborn, defenseless human beings at a rate that makes Hitler and Stalin look like nice guys; it legalizes same-sex marriage, smoking marijuana; and promotes violent protestors and destruction of private property and many other such things. Imagine if you were born and raised in this culture with no Christian witness or other standard of morality. How would you think? Your sinful nature would be in full control and you would be addicted to its every whim. Then what if someone who calls himself a government official tells you that the way you live is now illegal and you must stop! You would go ballistic. Why? Because you are a sinner and because even the thought of no longer having the anodyne of your sin causes you withdrawal pain. You must get angry, and you must threaten retaliation.

The Bible says that “The law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murders of fathers and mothers” (1 Tim. 1:9). Also, “By the law is the knowledge of sin” (Rom. 3:20).

America is screaming at the thought of her sin being revealed and punished. There may be no human power that can stop the retaliation of the sinful nature in such a scenario. Even the so-called conservative side may not be able to turn back this inevitable tide since they operate in their human nature as well. The ultimate hope is the Blessed Hope of the return and reign of the Lord Jesus Christ!

The church

Our thoughts about the church should not be as negative as about the world or our nation. Yes, we have sinful natures also and it shows in more than enough failures, but there should be no withdrawal symptoms within the church when sinful lifestyles are opposed by society at large. The church is not a political party. We don’t live or die by what a single nation does or doesn’t do. We are not a little compartment on the ship of state, ready to go down if the whole ship goes down. We are the people of the living God in this age of grace.

First, we should remember that though we are in the world we are not of the world. Jesus told us to expect the world to hate us (Jn. 15:18; 16:33) and yet to show the love of God in return (Jn. 15:7-11). The world is passing away but we are doing the will of God while it is day (1 Jn. 2:17). It is therefore our responsibility to be separate from the world’s sinful desires. We cannot have the world as our master and also Jesus Christ.

Second, we are salt and light in a dark and tasteless world (Mt. 5:13-14). We are natural irritants to the creeping things that live in the darkness. Peter described us as pilgrims and strangers in a foreign land (1 Pet. 2:11). When Bunyan had his Christian and companions travel through Vanity Fair, the locals wanted them to leave because they looked and talked in such a way that made them uncomfortable. We will leave our Vanity Fair when the Lord calls us away.

Third, we are the Holy Spirit’s instruments in the world. The book of Acts is really the acts of the Holy Spirit more than the acts of the church. The disciples did their greatest work when they were “filled” with the Spirit (Acts 4:8; 13:9). We may be insignificant in the world’s eyes but we possess the two most powerful things in the world—the Holy Spirit and His Word. We should never underestimate the work that can be done when we give these things full sway. Even the love of God is “spread abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given to us” (Rom. 5:5).

Fourth, we must never forget that God is in control and always has been. Yes, He allows sin to take its course and often with great harm, but His providence is always working things out to good. Part of this process is the effectual prayers of the saints who are living on the earth (James 5:16). God has given us the dignity of causality (to use C.S. Lewis’ term) in two forms: we can do things, or we can ask God to do them. Unfortunately we use our own power ninety percent of the time and God’s power only ten percent of the time.

Therefore with this realization of who we are and what we possess we should seek the Lord’s help and hand in many ways in regards to the situation in which we live. We should pray for the best circumstances to exist for the furtherance of His will and work (1 Tim. 2:1-3). This is why the believer can vote and participate in an election process hoping for the best situation for the gospel’s sake. Nothing will be perfect in this world but some things are better than others when it comes to doing the work of God.

We should pray for open doors even though there are many adversaries (1 Cor. 16:9). Paul was constantly asking the churches to pray for him, “That God would open unto us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ” (Col. 4:3). Open and closed doors are His specialty (Rev. 3:7). This is not a prayer for miraculous, cataclysmic events to descend from the heavens. God providentially arranges the circumstances of the world in answer to the prayers of His saints and in accordance with His will.

We should pray for the power of the Holy Spirit (1 Thes. 1:5; 2:13). The Holy Spirit superintended the creation of the world (Gen. 1:2) and He can superintend our lives easier than that. Elijah prayed that it wouldn’t rain and God answered his prayer and James uses this as an example of how we should pray (James 5:17), i.e., that God would intervene in and through the events of the world to accomplish His will.

We should pray that we could spend and be spent for Him (2 Cor. 12:15; Phil. 2:17). Paul called this “bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus” and “we are always delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake” (2 Cor. 4:10-11). We have one life to give for Jesus’ sake. Let’s seek to make the most of it in the day in which we live.

And so . . .

We should not be surprised at the age in which we live. It was in 1984 that Francis Schaeffer called this a “post-Christian” world in a book titled, “The Great Evangelical Disaster.” I don’t think that 33 years has made it any better or that the disaster in the churches has gotten any better either. But we don’t have to give in. We must keep our eyes on heaven, “From whence we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself” (Phil. 3:21-22).

As God’s church we really are a privileged people. We are His special and peculiar people, even a holy people. So let’s be faithful to Him Who has called us to glory and virtue.

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What About Foot Washing?

April 5, 2017Written by Rick Shrader

What About Foot Washing?

by Rick Shrader

It’s not unusual to be asked about baptism or the Lord’s Supper but in conjunction with that the question of foot washing as an ordinance of the church often comes up. I usually reply that I certainly believe in foot washing, especially for boys under ten years old! But why is it that I do not believe in foot washing as an ordinance of the local church?

The central passage in question is John 13:1-17 where Jesus washed the disciples’ feet at the last supper. It is a well-known account of Jesus girding Himself with a towel after supper and washing their feet until Peter stops Him, almost indignant that the Master would take the place of a servant and wash his feet. Peter announces, “Thou shalt never wash my feet.” “If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me,” Jesus replies. “Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head” was Peter’s contrite answer. At the end of the account Jesus said to the disciples, “For I have given you an example that ye should do as I have done to you.”

This custom of washing the feet before a meal was necessary because of the manner in which meals were eaten in a reclined position and due to the foot dress of the day. Homer Kent describes, “What Jesus did had a background in the custom of Palestinian society. Because of dusty roads and the wearing of open sandals, it was normal to wash one’s feet at the door. At a dinner the host provided water for his guests, and either the guest washed his own feet or the host delegated the task to servants.”¹ Of course the striking thing about what Jesus did, and why Peter was so upset, is that Jesus assumed the position of such a servant. John the Baptist once said of Jesus, “He it is, who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoe’s latchet I am not worthy to unloose” (John 1:27). John would surely have been as shocked as Peter at Jesus’ action.

Though the custom of washing feet before a meal was very common, the mention of it in Scripture is not. Abraham offered his angelic guests water to wash their feet before he served them (Gen. 18:4) and Lot did the same when they came to his house (Gen. 19:2). Before David took Abigail to wife she washed his feet (1 Sam. 25:41) and David commanded Uriah to go home and wash his feet when he was brought back from the battle (2 Sam. 11:8). Besides the story of our text, Luke records the meal in a Pharisee’s house when a woman “which was a sinner” washed Jesus’ feet with her hair and Jesus rebuked the host for not offering Him water to do the same (Luke 7:36-50). Mary of Bethany anointed Jesus’ feet with costly ointment, but that may have been something separate from the meal. The only other, but significant, mention of washing feet is in 1 Timothy 5:10 when giving the requirements for supporting a widow Paul writes, “if she have washed the saints’ feet.”

The significance of Jesus’ command to His disciples to do as He had done, and the mention of it as a widow’s practice, requires us to give an answer for why we do or do not practice this regularly, or even make it a third ordinance of the church. G. Campbell Morgan wrote, “Now there are certain sections of the Christian Church even today who take that very literally, and observe this ritual as carefully as the Lord’s Supper and baptism. While we may not share their practice, we must at least not lose the significance of it.”² To this all would agree.

Because this is a common question, I often review my answer as to its validity especially each time I read the gospel of John. Here is a list of reasons why I conclude that this is not intended for regular practice, much less as an ordinance of the church.

A symbol is not an ordinance

There are many things in Scripture which we ought to be doing that do not rise to the level of a regular ordinance of the church. A.H. Strong is regularly referenced in his three-fold division of these things.

A symbol is the sign, or visible representation, of an invisible truth or idea; as for example, the lion is the symbol of strength and courage, the lamb is the symbol of gentleness, the olive branch of peace, the scepter of dominion, the wedding ring of marriage, and the flag of country. Symbols may teach great lessons; as Jesus’ cursing the barren fig tree taught the doom of unfruitful Judaism, and Jesus’ washing of the disciples’ feet taught his own coming down from heaven to purify and save, and the humble service required of his followers. 2. A rite is a symbol which is employed with regularity and sacred intent. Symbols become rites when thus used. Examples of authorized rites in the Christian Church are the laying on of hands in ordination, and the giving of the right hand of fellowship. An ordinance is a symbolic rite which sets forth the central truths of the Christian faith, and which is of universal and perpetual obligation. Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are rites which have become ordinances by the specific command of Christ and by their inner relation to the essential truth of his kingdom.³

Even if a church elects to practice foot washing, it does not become an ordinance. There is no universal and perpetual obligation to individuals or to a church.

It is not supported by the New Testament record

In addition to foot washing not being an ordinance by definition, neither does it qualify by New Testament usage. Ordinances were given by Christ in the gospels, practiced by the disciples in the book of Acts, and taught by the apostles in their epistles. Rolland McCune puts this is a four-fold manner: “Sovereign authorization by the Lord Jesus Christ . . . Symbolic of saving faith . . . Specific command for perpetuation . . . Biblical evidence of historic fulfillment.”⁴ McCune also states, “Accordingly, Baptists assert that only two ordinances fit the biblical criteria—water baptism and communion.⁵ Of baptism McCune says, “The divine authorization comes from the Great Commission, Christ’s marching orders for the church which can only be carried out properly by a biblically organized New Testament local church.”⁶

There are some things denominations practice with regularity that still do not rise to the level of ordinance: love feasts, anointing with oil, laying on of hands, and even prayer meetings. These however do not become ordinances simply because they are practiced regularly. Foot washing does not even rise to this level.

It misses the larger point Jesus was making

Jesus was the very Son of God Who came to earth as a Servant to save sinners. In the previous quote, A.H. Strong said, “Jesus washing of the disciples’ feet taught his own coming down from heaven to purify and save.”⁷ F.B. Meyer said it this way, “He rose from the Throne; laid aside the garments of light which He had worn as his vesture; took up the poor towel of humanity, and wrapped it about his glorious Person; poured his own blood into the basin of the cross; and set Himself to wash away the foul stains of human depravity and guilt.”⁸

Jesus WAS a servant to us in His substitutionary atonement for mankind. We are to be servants as well, not merely in an act of symbolism, but in actual practice throughout our lives as believers. Peter learned this lesson well for he wrote in his epistle, “Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble” (1 Peter 5:5). To “be clothed” (egkomboomai) is from a Greek word that only appears here in the New Testament. It is from a root word (kombos) meaning a string or band. It means to be girded, or to tie one’s garment about you. It was specifically used of slaves doing menial tasks. Peter still had this image in his mind when he wrote of humility.

It destroys the unique symbolism of the ordinances

Foot washing, and other symbols like it, cannot rise to the level of ordinance because it does not carry a vicarious symbolism. Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are indeed done with symbols and object lessons (water, bread, juice), but they uniquely symbolize something that was done for us in salvation. We cannot give our body or blood for sin. We cannot die, be buried, and rise again the third day. The symbolism of these ordinances is of something we cannot do, something that was done for us.

Foot washing, laying on of hands, fasting, etc., are symbols of things we are commanded to do. And as Peter wrote, we should be clothed with humility, hospitable, serving one another. Ryrie, in his chapter on church ordinances writes about foot washing,

Those who focus on cleansing find ground for continuing the observance of this as an ordinance today. Those who emphasize the example or forgiveness aspects do not feel it is necessary to perform the ritual but rather to practice the spiritual truths the ritual illustrated. It is true that the exhortation to follow Christ’s example in verses 14 and 15 related to forgiving one another in humility, rather than to God’s forgiving our missteps in life. This, then, would argue against considering foot-washing as an ordinance.⁹

Baptism can be used as a prerequisite to membership because it pictures one’s salvation, i.e., belief in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Wayne Grudem, in arguing for having only two ordinances, writes, “The position advocated in this chapter is ‘Baptistic’ —namely, that baptism is appropriately administered only to those who give a believable profession of faith in Jesus Christ.”¹⁰ Baptism is used this way because it pictures salvation. The Lord’s Supper also pictures the effects of the body and blood of Jesus Christ upon our souls. Foot washing is not in this category.

It gives an “example” of a unique kind

In John 13:15 Jesus said, “For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.” This word “example” is not the ordinary word tupos, meaning figure to copy (Acts 7:43-44) or example to follow (Phil. 3:17). It is upodeigma, an unusual word used only here in the gospels and five other times in the New Testament including by Peter describing the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, “making them an example unto those that after should live ungodly” (2 Pet. 2:6).

Lenski, in discussing this word writes,

This shows that ‘to be washing each others’ feet’ is figurative and means literally, ‘that you keep doing, even as I did do to you,’ kathos, not ho, ‘in like manner,’ not ‘the same identical thing.’ The example of Jesus is to guide them in what they do for each other; it is not for mere mechanical repetition in washing of feet. This answers the question as to whether Jesus intends to institute a symbolical rite or an actual sacrament, which his disciples are to repeat formally by actually washing each others’ feet. Such rites belong to the Old Testament only, they have disappeared from the New. The shadows are gone, the substance has come.¹¹

This is simply a grammatical way of saying that actually washing one another’s feet does not necessarily fulfill Christ’s command as an “example” to follow. We could be doing that every week, but if we are not serving one another in some helpful way, we are not keeping His example.

It contradicts the humility which it is supposed to demonstrate

I mean by this that the desire to do this action (of washing someone’s feet) can easily be a show of piety in itself. Is this why we never find the apostles doing this in the New Testament? We find them serving one another and others, but not doing this physical act. The widows of 1 Timothy 5 were supposed to be “reported of for good works, if she have brought up children, if she have lodged strangers, if she have washed the saints’ feet, if she have relieved the afflicted, if she have diligently followed every good work’ (1 Tim. 5:10). A symbolic show of piety certainly does not belong in that list.

F.B. Meyer wrote, “There was no aiming at effect, no thought of the beauty or humility of the act, as there is when the Pope yearly washes the feet of twelve beggars, from a golden basin, wiping them with a towel of rarest fabric! Christ did not act thus for show or pretence.”¹² It is for this reason that I think we should not do this practice in the churches.

We should rather do as Jesus commanded in the Sermon on the Mount, “Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly” (Matt. 6:1-4). He said the same thing about prayer and fasting in the same context.

And so . . .

A.W. Pink wrote a good four-fold summary to this discussion from the verses in our text, “First, the vital need of placing our feet in the hands of Christ for cleansing (13:8). Second, the owning of Christ as ‘Master and Lord’ (13:13). Third, the need of washing one another’s feet (13:14). Fourth, the performing of this ministry as Christ performed it—in lowly love (13:15).”¹³ And yet, like many of us, he did not advocate the practice of foot washing as an ordinance. He also wrote,

It is well known that not a few regarded this as a command from Christ for His followers not to practice literal foot-washing, yea, some have exalted it into a ‘Church ordinance.’ While we cannot but respect and admire their desire to obey Christ, especially in a day when laxity and self-pleasing is so rife, yet we are fully satisfied that they have mistaken our Lord’s meaning here. Surely to insist upon literal foot-washing from this verse is to miss the meaning as well as the spirit of the whole passage. It is not with literal water (any more than the ‘water’ is literal in john 3:5; 4:14; 7:38) that the Lord would have us wash one another. It is the Word (of which ‘water’ is the emblem) He would have us apply to our fellow-disciples’ walk.¹⁴

I would hope with confidence that as brethren disagree in this matter of foot-washing we would respect one another’s desire to obey our Lord’s commands in every respect. At the same time, when we disagree as to the application of our beliefs and desires, we would do so charitably yet firmly. I have never seen, nor do I now see, the need at all to wash one another’s feet in a literal way. But I would join with brethren in the desperate need to serve one another in love.

Notes:

Homer Kent, Jr., Light in the Darkness: Studies in the Gospel of John (Winona Lake: BMH books, 2005) 184.
G. Campbell Morgan, The Gospel According to John (Westwood, N.J.: Fleming H. Revell, nd) 233.
A.H. Strong, Systematic Theology (Old Tappan: Fleming H. Revell, 1970) 930.
Rolland McCune, Systematic Theology (Detroit: DBTS, 2010) 270.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Strong, Ibid.
F.B. Meyer, Gospel of John (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, nd) 199.
Charles Ryrie, Basic Theology (Wheaton: Victor books, 1986) 427.
Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994) 967.
R.C.H. Lenski, The Interpretation of St. John’s Gospel (Minneapolis: Augsburg Pub. House, 1943) 926-927.
F.B. Meyer, Ibid.
A.W. Pink, Exposition of the Gospel of John (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1971) 319-320.
14. Ibid, 317.

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Biblical Leadership

February 28, 2017Written by Rick Shrader

Biblical Leadership

by Rick Shrader

Not the number of one’s servants, but the number whom one serves, is the heavenly criterion of greatness and the real preparation for leadership. Oswald Sanders

What is Biblical leadership? Everyone seems to know these days and yet no one seems to know. All of us who must occupy a place of leadership know that our feet are of clay and our heart can be deceitful. We can teach others about leadership but, like teaching on prayer and God’s will, it is the easiest thing to speak about and the hardest thing to do. We find ourselves in the conundrum of being an example to others yet desiring to be but a servant only to God. How can we keep our heads about us in a world of ambition, strife, and selfishness?

The pressure around us

The church leader today has truly caught the spirit of the age. Ministry has become a business whose success is measured by one’s ability to build a church, to double a budget, to attract a crowd. Happiness matters more than truth, relationship more than discipleship, entertainment more than atonement, and invitation to speak more than necessity to preach.

Every day brings the pressure to be great, to measure up to what the world around us expects. Even our peers in ministry evaluate us on the basis of what we can produce, not on our walk with God. Sometimes even parents, siblings, and children, can project unspoken expectations of success. If that is not enough, each one of us has an ego large enough to fill an auditorium, and we often do just that. Even our own people can be discouraged at the lack of success and become discouraged in the work.

Yet we are not ignorant of Satan’s devices. He would sift us as wheat, devour us as a roaring lion, take us captive at his will. He would have us build a legacy to ourselves in this life, a trophy case that others will see after we’re gone, rather than to desire a crown in heaven that fades not away.

The Biblical admonition

The pressures from the Scripture are great and rightly weigh upon us. We are called of God to this leadership not of our own will for we might have chosen another occupation; we are given the gifts of pastor, teacher, preacher, evangelist with little natural ability in either; we are evaluated with a list of qualifications that begin with the word “must” and yet we are warned not to be lords over God’s heritage; we are called angels, or messengers, who must herald God’s message and yet we know we are as Moses in ability, hardly able to speak.

At the same time the Word thrusts us into leadership, it also casts us into servitude. We must decrease if He is to increase; we must be spilled out as an evening sacrifice; we must make ourselves of no reputation; we must have this treasure in earthen vessels; and we must not strive, but be gentle unto all men. We must let the mind be in us which was in the meekness and gentleness Christ.

The personal conviction

It should be the office that seeks the man, and not the man the office. We have responded to a calling without knowing what price we would need to pay. We have a commission that expands to the whole world; we have made ourselves debtor, ready, and unashamed of the gospel we preach; we are working for a crown of glory that fades away in this life but not in the next; we persuade men because of the fear of God and yet must be unmoved by their refusal; we will fight a good fight, finish our course, and keep the faith, and know that the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty only through God. We will continue to fight to bring every thought into obedience to Christ.

The only foundation

The only foundation for our ministry, the only source of our belief, the only authority for our message, is the written Word of God. We know that in the end we have no other basis for what we do. We may unwisely appeal to personal vision, prophetic unction, or even apostolic authority, but all of these are merely human supposition. When we stand before our Lord, we will have no other reason for our actions, no other authority for our ministry than what was once delivered to the saints, a more sure Word than that of prophecy. Sure, we may see it differently than another man who has the same book, but the Word is unchanging and has been for two thousand years. We may change, but Scripture never! In the end it will judge us, not us it.

The bottom line

Servant leadership! A leader but yet a servant. “O man of God,” was Paul’s address to young Timothy. God has counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry. But I am His servant and that is all. I have no rights of my own when it comes to the stewardship of His house. I am not a man of the world, I am a man of God, His bonded slave, His sole property. It is only required in stewards that a man be found faithful. And praise the Lord for that!

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Biblical Submission

February 28, 2017Written by Rebekah Schrepfer

Biblical Submission

by Rebekah Schrepfer

The humility and discipline of submitting to those over us has a subtle and unique power. It is not power over the leader, but power over self. Power over selfishness. To place my desires and perspective and opinions below that of another person (husband, parent, pastor, teacher, rules, etc.) Is not only a freeing thing, but an empowering thing.

Modern feminism, even “Christian” feminism, rebels against this. This militant movement seeks to supplant the hierarchy God has ordained, and seize power. Of course, Eve learned quickly that this is one of Satan’s lies. He would have us believe that power is always authoritarian, and that humility is always demeaning, and service is always servility. God says that the power of God is in obedience to His Word (1 Cor. 2:4-5, 2 Cor. 4:7).

Most of the power of submission is in the spiritual life, not necessarily in the temporal world. Oh yes. There may be loss of rights, loss of pride, loss of control, loss of identity sometimes if we submit to an authority, especially an imperfect one. But what do we gain? Scripture is clear that we are not to value this life, but rather seek things that will last in the next (Mark 8:35; Matt. 6:33). We gain the perspective of our leaders. We learn from our leaders. We grow under the ministry of our leaders. We learn to get out of the way and let God work. We store up treasures in heaven that do not burn up, but are precious throughout eternity.

You may say, “But what about that situation they’re not seeing? I have this knowledge that surely my leader needs to have in order to be a good leader! How can he be a good leader if he doesn’t do A, B, or C? How can THAT be God’s will? What he’s doing doesn’t make sense to me.”

Here’s the perspective you must have as one in a submissive role, which is not always for women, by the way. Men also have times they must submit to authority. God has placed that leader over you. God has led that person there, just as well as He has led you to your place (situation). God is in control.

In my relationship with my husband, I went through a time of struggle having been a very strong willed single adult supporting myself and then becoming … a wife. Aron and I knew each other as good friends for 6 years before we were married. I knew he was a godly man, a man who was strong and sought to please the Lord above all other things. But even having a good man as my leader, it was still difficult for me, because I was not very submissive at first. Indeed, I still struggle to submit. (I can just hear all of the egalitarians groaning.) I was so enamored by my own abilities and strengths that I neglected to follow my leader. It took me a long time to really watch what he was doing and follow his lead.

Aron has a different mindset than I do, partly because of the call on his life from God Himself to serve in full time ministry which gives him more time devoted to the Word and to prayer. He has more experience in applying the truths he has studied because of his calling as well. He also has a perspective based on his experiences that God has led him through and a unique personality that God has given him. There are numerous things that my husband does that don’t make sense to me, things that I would not have thought of first. But I’ve learned to watch him, and wait. I’ve learned to ask him what is his reasoning for this or that action. I wish I could tell each person who does not know him as well as I do, “Watch him. Look what he’s doing. Follow his lead. You’ll like where it takes you.” Not because he is perfect, but because he really is a good leader. He has been so to me and to others. I would never have learned this joy had I not submitted when I disagreed or when I saw him mess up.

That is submission. It is following, not leading. A follower is not to be the stopgap for the leader. It is not my job to check up on my husband and make sure he’s doing right. My job is the submissive roll, the helper’s role. He may perform as a servant leader and serve his family and church as God has called him, and that may reveal his humility and meekness. My job, though, is not to point out whether he’s doing it right or doing it wrong.

I still haven’t answered the question. How is this empowering then? Andrew Murray’s book, Abide in Christ answers us.

And so His people are still taught to be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. When He strengthens them, it is not by taking away the sense of feebleness, and giving in its place the feeling of strength. By no means. But in a very wonderful way leaving and even increasing the sense of utter impotence, He gives them along with it the consciousness of strength in Him. ‘We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us.’ The feebleness and the strength are side by side; as the one grows, the other too, until they understand the saying, ‘When I am weak, then am I strong; I glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest on me.’¹

So the real challenge to us is not so much to submit to my earthly authorities, but ultimately do I submit to God? And, after all, do we believe in God’s sovereignty? Is God really in control and is His will really for me to follow THIS leader? Yes. Check how many times we are to OBEY from a submissive stance:

To parents: Eph. 6:1

To husbands: Eph. 5:22, 33

To employers: Eph. 6:5

To government: 1 Pet. 2:13-17

To pastors: Heb. 13:17

Submission to my leaders, even imperfect leaders, can move a prideful and impulsive girl toward humility and patience and temperance. So that makes my point. Pride, impulsiveness and selfishness are weaknesses. Humility and patience and self-control are strengths! Those are the qualities that God can use. These good fruits of the Spirit clear the way for God to work through me. The fruits of my spirit only quench the Spirit. Submission will allow that quiet dove to convict and change me from within. The Potter will smooth out the bumps and mold the clay into His vessel. Spurgeon said,

That rough looking diamond is put upon the wheel of the lapidary. He cuts it on all sides. It loses much – much that seemed costly to itself…. Let faith and patience have their perfect work, for in the day when the crown shall be set upon the head of the King, Eternal, Immortal, Invisible, one day of glory shall stream from you. ‘They shall be mine,’ saith the Lord,’ in the day when I take up my jewels.’³

Modern feminism and so-called Christian feminism or egalitarianism miss this point. The power to be satisfied, fulfilled, at peace, and with joy is not in finding yourself. It’s not in avoiding pain or suffering. It’s in trusting, resting, abiding, serving. It is in submitting to the Lord. I must quiet my soul and “behave myself like a weaned child” (Psalm 131:2).

We must submit to God at the point of salvation. Why do we fight against it in our Christian walk? Submission is power. The Potter may choose to make me a vessel for honor that is admired by all, or He may make me just a clay pot to be used and then broken for His purposes (Romans 9:21). Either outcome is reliant on a submissive lump of clay in the Master’s hands, and either outcome is good.

Submission is power. But it’s not my power. It is God’s power working through me.

None of self, and all of Thee

By Theodore Monod

Oh, the bitter pain and sorrow

That a time could ever be,

When I proudly said to Jesus,

“All of self, and none of Thee.”

Yet He found me; I beheld Him

Bleeding on th’ accursed tree,

And my wistful heart said faintly,

“Some of self, and some of Thee.”

Day by day His tender mercy,

Healing, helping, full and free,

Brought me lower while I whispered,

“Less of self, and more of Thee.”

Higher than the highest heaven,

Deeper than the deepest sea,

Lord, Thy love at last has conquered:

“None of self, and all of Thee.”

** Rebekah Schrepfer is a regular contributor to Aletheia and a blogger at MostlySensible.com.

Notes:

Murray, Andrew. Abide in Christ(pp. 109-110). Wilder Publications. Kindle Edition.
You might say, “What about when he’s asking me to sin?” In that case, your red flag is correct. Although we have earthly authorities, they are not our sole authorities. Only God is our sole authority. Of course, there will be times when a leader may use his power wrongly and that will mean that those under his power will suffer. There is provision from God for those who are suffering and if you are one who is in an abusive situation perhaps, then please seek help. It is never ok to sin, though. Abuse is not a problem with the hierarchy. It is a sin problem.
Spurgeon, C. H. (2006). Morning and evening: Daily readings(Complete and unabridged; New modern edition.). Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers.

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When God Closes the Door

February 1, 2017Written by Rick Shrader

When God Closes the Door

by Rick Shrader

The foremost belief of a sinner who refuses God’s grace is that the consequences of that refusal will never come. Surely anyone who truly understood and believed in what the Bible teaches about heaven and hell would not take such a chance as this. But, of course, the fact is that such a person does not believe. Only recently I spoke about heaven and hell to an audience which included many non-believers, and they smiled and nodded throughout the message, but all the while not accepting the truth of what the Bible says. Dr. Warren Vanhetloo, my theology teacher in seminary, wrote, “From creation, God had warned of future suffering in the fire of His wrath and had announced that those who believe on Him would escape such punishment. Information about hell as well as possible deliverance is much more plentiful and specific in the New Testament, both by the Son of God during His earthly instruction as well as from His disciples in later communications” (Cogitations, 2/20/07). Yet more people than ever think that such a fate will never happen.

Longer than I can remember people have been ignoring God’s warning about hell because of some reason concocted in their own mind: a loving God would not send someone to a place like that; hell was invented to give the church power over unsuspecting people; if there is a hell it is just a place of separation, not a literal fire; hell is just the place we imagine it to be; or, hell is the culmination of the ongoing narrative of the church over hundreds of years. Whatever a person’s own reason concludes about hell, the Bible is very clear that hell is real, hot, and long (read Rev. 14:10-11). The Bible is also clear that God is longsuffering and not willing that anyone should go there (read 2 Peter 3:9). This is the only reason why the judgment of God which is coming at the end of the age does not take place immediately.

God will one day close the door on everyone’s opportunity for salvation. Yet throughout history God has left the door open as long as possible to give every person the best chance possible at coming. But when the door is shut it is shut, “and after this the judgment” (Heb. 9:27). If hell and the lake of fire are what the Bible says they are, the realization that the door has been shut on your opportunity for escape is the most unimaginable moment of realization, when God your Creator says, “I never knew you, depart from me, ye that work iniquity” (Matt. 7:23; see also Matt. 25:41; Luke 13:27).

The door to Eden

“Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man: and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life” (Gen. 3:23-24).

The door to Eden was closed. Adam and Eve had disobeyed God and the paradise which they knew as the garden of Eden was finished. Their disobedience affected not only themselves but all their posterity including all of us today. “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned” (Rom. 5:12). There is no way for humanity to go back. We are all born sinners because of Adam and Eve’s decision to disobey God, actually a decision that was ours as well since we were in Adam at the time. The Bible makes the fact of our sin abundantly clear. Adam had a chance to have the door left open but he, and we, must suffer the consequences of his decision.

The door to the Ark

“And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life. And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the LORD shut him in” (Gen. 7:15-16).

The other issues beside our point are interesting. This flood of Noah’s day was no doubt a universal flood. Why would Noah have to take two of each kind of animal on the ark if the flood were only local and there were many other pairs of animals to reproduce? Why even build such a monstrosity if he were not rescuing all non-seafaring animals? Also, here the Bible tells us that God created all life as male and female. This applies to the man and the woman also as Jesus reminded the Pharisees, “Have ye not read that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female?” (Matt. 19:4). We don’t read that Noah had to search and search for multiple gender identities to make sure no one was left out. But we digress.

The shutting of the door to the ark seems like a calloused thing for God to do. First, because so many people would die in a terrible way. Second, because if there is a heaven and a hell, He was consigning them to hell which is the result of their decision not to believe the preaching of Noah. Third, because after the door was shut there would be desperate cries for Him to open the door, repentant cries of change of mind. Yet the door didn’t open. God in His sovereignty knew their hearts. True repentance is seldom late and late repentance is seldom true, and in this case never true. Belief must walk by faith and not by sight. There is no one in hell who doesn’t now believe in hell. But that is not saving faith. That is why the devils believe these things and even tremble at them, to no avail for their rescue (James 2:19).

The door to Lot’s house

“And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? Bring them out unto us, that we may know them. . . But the men put forth their hand and pulled Lot into the house to them, and shut the door. And they smote the men that were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great . . . Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven” (Gen. 19:5, 10-11, 24).

Today’s LGBT generation would like to make this incident in Sodom less than it really was. Some even suggest that the men of the city only wanted to get to “know” these two men (who turn out to be angels, evidently the Angel of the LORD) in the sense of knowing who they were and having a nice conversation with them. Others think the sin of Sodom was only inhospitality because of a reference in Ezekiel 16:49 which, among other things, mentions their sin of idleness. Still others think that what happened was only the attempted rape of Lot’s daughters or at the most, attempting the same toward Lot’s guests.

To digress once again, it should be pointed out that Ezekiel 16:50 calls the sin of Sodom “abomination” (singular). This is important because in Lev. 18:22 Moses wrote, “Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination” (singular). The term “abomination” only appears twice (also in 20:13) in Leviticus in the singular and both times it refers to homosexual sin. The attempted sin at Sodom was certainly the sin of homosexuality.

The angels shut Lot’s door and struck the men with blindness. Immediately afterward God destroyed them all with fire from heaven. “Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire” (Jude 7). Jude would agree with Paul in Romans 1 that God gave them over to a reprobate mind (Rom. 1:28). The door of opportunity which was available to them through the witness of Lot (see 2 Peter 2:6-8) was closed for good and they perished in temporal and eternal flame.

The door of the Passover

“And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper doorpost of the houses, wherein they shall eat it . . . For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD. And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt” (Exod. 12:7, 12-13).

I’m sure that the heads of the houses listened carefully to Moses as he gave them the instruction concerning the door posts and the blood. The previous plagues proved that God was not deceptive when He announced the coming judgments. If they did not prepare the lamb in the proper way and apply its blood in the proper place, their own children would die along with the Egyptian children. Once the death angel (Who also seems to be the Angel of the LORD) passed over the door, there was no reversing either death or life.

For Israel it seems that all of them followed God’s instruction and were sparred death in their house. For the Egyptians, however, the case was just the opposite. How could God do such a thing to people who did not know any better? Actually, the Egyptians had as much knowledge and as many chances to repent as any Gentile nation in Israel’s history. As far back as Abraham, but especially from Joseph’s sojourn through Moses’ ministry, they had multiple opportunities to know Israel’s God. We see again that when God shuts the door of opportunity there is no going back.

The door at Kadesh

“Tomorrow turn you, and get you into the wilderness by the way of the Red sea . . . Your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, which have murmured against me” (Numbers 14:25, 29).

We know the story well. The Israelites were to go into the land and conquer it for the LORD but they were afraid and voted 10-2 against doing it. When God informed them that they would all die in the wilderness for their rebellion, they changed their mind and said, “we be here, and will go up into the place which the LORD hath promised: for we have sinned” (14:40). They even made a try at it without God’s blessing and were greatly defeated. It was too late. The door of opportunity was shut. They would die in the wilderness over the next 40 years. The writer of Hebrews concludes, “And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief” (Heb. 3:18-19).

There are also examples of God’s closed doors in the New Testament.

The door of salvation

“I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture” (John 10:9).

All people are sinners and all need to be saved. Jesus died for every human being and invites all to come to Him by faith. The door to personal salvation is open as long as the Holy Spirit of God convicts through the Word of God. That door will close at death. Again, “As it is appointed unto man once to die, but after this the judgment: so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many” (Heb. 9:27-28).

Jesus spoke of a blasphemy against the Holy Spirit which will not be forgiven (John 12). Some believe this only applies to Israel and others believe that continued resistance to the Holy Spirit’s conviction causes Him to stop convicting which would close the door to salvation. In either case, no one is saved without the Holy Spirit’s conviction, drawing, and regeneration.

The door or the Rapture

“And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also” (John 14:3). “Behold I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed” (1 Cor. 15:51-52).

The verses describing the rapture of the church could go on and on. When it happens the church, the Bride of Christ, will be complete and the door will be shut. Yes, some will be saved during the tribulation but they are not added to the church. The fact is, that the chance of someone getting saved during that time is very slim. Paul said, “And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness” (2 Thes. 2:11-12). To miss the rapture is to miss the open door of the gospel era. “Behold now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Cor. 6:2).

The age of grace continues on for only one reason. “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is long-suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Pet. 3:9). The rapture is imminent and could happen at any time. Come while it is still the day of grace.

The door to the Millennium

“And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut” (Matt. 25:10).

When Jesus returns in glory after the tribulation period, and the church returns with Him from heaven (Rev. 19:11-15), He will separate the wheat from the tares, burning the tares in the fire, and then will gather the wheat into His barn, an illustration of gathering the saved into His kingdom. This division is pictured in Scripture as a separation of wheat and tares (Matt. 13:24-32); those who have oil in their lamps and those who do not (Matt. 24:1-13); sheep and goats (Matt. 24:31-46); and those who have on proper wedding garments and those who do not (Matt. 22:11-14). Once this division is done by the Lord at His coming, it will not be reversed. The saved will go into the millennial kingdom for a thousand years, and the lost will be cast out into outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matt. 24:51).

The door of the New Jerusalem

“And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day . . . And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life” (Rev. 21:25, 27).

The last two chapters of Revelation describe the new Jerusalem, the heavenly home of the saved for all eternity. The doors (for there are twelve of them) will be open for the saved but will be closed for the unsaved. By then the decision of every individual regarding salvation will have been made. The chance for change will be over. John continued, “He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still” (Rev. 22:11).

And so . . .

When God closes the door of opportunity, the door is closed. Whether that seems fair or unfair, loving or unloving, that is a matter for God and God alone. A person is wise to go through God’s open doors while they are open. I trust you have done that and have come to the Lord Jesus Christ for your personal salvation and eternal life.

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It’s Time To Start Again

January 2, 2017Written by Rick Shrader

It’s Time To Start Again

by Rick Shrader

Well, it’s time to start again. On January 1st no one writing columns really knows how to say anything new. As a pastor who must preach a fresh sermon every Christmas and Easter and all the other holidays, and has been doing it for most of my life, I can tell you I repeat myself a lot. You know the man who only comes to church on those two holidays and leaves saying, “pastor, you preach the same thing every time I come to church.” So as I start the 24th year of writing Aletheia you may want to just put it down and say, “he said this last year.”

Do you remember January 1, 2000, or Y2K? It wasn’t really the start of a new millennium yet, but the world was changing from writing 1900 to writing 2000. Well, some gearhead somewhere told us that all computers in the world could not handle the automatic change in those digits and would instantly jam and shut down. It was pointed out that almost everything in our lives has a computer chip in it and therefore will instantly quit working at midnight of the new year. The computer in your car, your microwave, your watch, your pacemaker; the computer that runs the city power grid and the one that runs the water works; all of Washington, the Pentagon, the White House (yes, there was some disappointment in its failure here), and even Big Ben and Greenwich Meridian Time. All of these were supposed to stop and, of course, the world as we know it would come crashing to a halt. Some were actually disappointed when the world went right on instead of reverting back to outhouses and wood stoves. Talk about New Year articles being a bummer! Ironically, the year 2000 started, not with a computer glitch, but with good old, manual, “hanging chad.” It was probably a natural harbinger of things to come in the next decade.

This year we kind of have a Y2K politically which will start on January 20th when a different kind of President, at least from what we’ve known in our life time, is sworn into office. Since November 8th, or make that 9th, we have been receiving warnings of coming doom and gloom, or, on the other hand, of the golden age itself. I would imagine that either side is going to experience quite a bit of disappointment that it doesn’t happen as predicted.

Then there was Harold Camping. Even Wickipedia proudly (or maybe disappointingly) reports, “Camping predicted that Jesus Christ would return to Earth on May 21, 2011, whereupon the saved would be taken up to heaven in the rapture, and that there would follow five months of fire, brimstone and plagues on Earth, with millions of people dying each day, culminating on October 21, 2011, with the final destruction of the world.” Poor Harold died in 2012—the fate of all writers who go a little overboard predicting what is going to happen next year.

Isaac Watts, my favorite song writer of all time, wrote a little known hymn which he titled, “Begin, My Tongue, Some Heavenly Theme,” and continues in the second line, “And speak some boundless thing” (see the rest at the conclusion of this article). Since I don’t have boundless things to speak, I am going to let the last two chapters of James speak for me. Am always enticed by 4:13-17 where James says to his people, “Go to now, ye that say, Today or tomorrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain.” Then James continues, “For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.” This admonition to approach the next year with God’s will in mind rests in the middle of the last two chapters both of which move our attention in the right direction.

Friendship with the world is the enemy of God (4:1-12)

“Ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.” Pretty tough language! We know that the Bible uses the word “world” in a few different ways and that here it means that worldly system of which Satan is the god and people are his subjects—sometimes evidently even believers.

When believers, who actually belong to Christ and are no longer legal subjects to Satan, love the world it causes the Holy Spirit Who dwells within to “yearn jealously” (vs. 5). Though James attributes this to “the scripture,” we have no Old Testament verse that says it exactly. I think the study Bibles are correct in referencing Genesis 6:3, which says, “My Spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh.” James next tells us that God “giveth more grace.” This could be his analogy to Noah in Genesis 6:8, “But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.” With the end of the old world coming, when “every imagination of the thoughts of men’s heart was only evil continually,” it was imperative for the believers to look ahead and live by grace. The friends of that world tragically died in the flood.

Seek God’s will for the year ahead (4:13-17)

James, the pastor of the church in Jerusalem and the first New Testament writer, had to warn his people about their new year’s resolutions. The book of Acts indicates that these were tough times for the believers because of persecution (11:19) and increasing recession due to famine (11:27-30). It was only natural for the people to make financial goals for the coming year. They would go here and there, do this and that, and make some money. But they had left out the most important consideration, “For that ye ought to say, if the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that. But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil. Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin” (4:15-17).

It is a “sin” for us both to leave God out of our plans and also to run contrary to His will when we know better. There is something in us here that makes us gravitate toward our own selfishness, especially when we can “consume it upon our own lusts.”

This world is no friend of grace (5:1-6)

“Go to now, you rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you!” If a time of famine was coming, and evidently it was, the rich people were about to enter a recession or even a great depression. But God did not have pity because they had “kept back by fraud” the wages of honest workers (4). “Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter. Ye have condemned the just; and he doth not resist you” (5-6).

Believers cannot always count on unbelievers to be honest with them, though the believer ought always to be hard working and honest regardless of his or her working situation. Natural law speaks to all parties involved, but inspired Law speaks even more to Christians. Why would we want this part of the “world” to love us when, in fact, it can’t love us. Jesus said to the unbelievers of His day, “The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil” (John 7:7). A generation who loves the world so much that it seeks its love rather than rebuke is not a friend of God.

Take the long look (5:7-11)

This section in James begins, “Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord.” Let me point out the language here, at the risk of being boring. “Patience” (as a noun) almost always comes from the Greek word hupomonee, to remain under a burden or trial. The verb, hupomeno, is usually translated “endure” because it admonishes us to remain under our trial with this patience. But “patience” here in the three times it appears in James 5:7-10, does not come from hupomonee, but from makrothumia, which is almost always translated “longsuffering.” I think that would be a much better translation here instead of “patience” although virtually no common translation does it.

James is directing the reader’s attention, in all three cases, to the “coming of the Lord,” “for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh,” and because, “the judge standeth before the door.” In other words, the admonition is more than just patience, it is also looking far ahead to the time when we see the Lord! Makrothumia is a combination of two words: makro, meaning long, and thumia, meaning desire. The same root with a different prefix, epi, meaning short, or short desire, is usually translated lust. Having a long desire is good and gives us the word longsuffering. Having a short desire is not good and gives us the word lust. We should be longsuffering in this world because the Lord is coming one day.

How should we approach 2017?

Here are a few of the things believers should be paying attention to and being aware of in the new year.

Promoting the Lord more than ourselves. “For not he that commendeth himself is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth” (2 Cor. 10:18). It seems like everything on line, on TV, in sports, in theater, in music, is about the performer, and this is too often the case in God’s church. There are so many ways in which we can feed this tendency for the “pride of life” that we must be especially aware of it.

The world does not operate from the perspective of being fallen creatures. To the average person, the exalting of self is a good thing, it is a way to get ahead, to get oneself noticed. Even humility is generally used as a way to gain a compliment. And why shouldn’t they think like this if there is no higher Authority in one’s life? Still, we know better. As Paul prefaces that verse, “But he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord” (2 Cor. 10:17).

Furthering the gospel more than good deeds. Of course, we know that when we present the gospel that it is a gospel of grace not works. But I am thinking from the sinner’s point of view. There are many good things to do in this world and we all should be busy with them as much as possible: helping the helpless, comforting the weak, lifting up the downhearted. The world, however, sees these as an end in themselves. The “real” meaning of Christmas, as we have seen, becomes the gift of giving. The “real” meaning of love is to never give up. In the old modernistic way, the real meaning of Christianity is to follow Christ’s example and to be like Him, since He was the great Example.

All of these good works are good but they lack one thing: being the result of a new birth and not the way to a new birth. The politically correct world is fine with the good works, but they don’t like to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. In fact, the gospel is almost outlawed in free societies. With all of our good deeds, let’s not neglect the most important thing, the need for saving faith.

Using our time wisely. I think we must all feel the contradiction of living in the most convenient time in history, and yet being chronic time wasters. Never have we needed more to be, “Redeeming the time, because the days are evil” (Eph. 5:16). No doubt, in many ways modern conveniences save a lot of time. Just think of flying across country rather than driving, and driving rather than riding a horse! I am writing this article and will send it out by email which will reach anywhere in the world instantly. I just took a break from writing to heat my cold coffee in 30 seconds in the microwave. I just texted my brother-in-law across the country to remind him to cheer for my football team in tonight’s game. Grandpa would not have believed it.

The problem with the gadget age is that we love gadgets. My wife and I play word games on our phones with our kids in four different time zones, but these games can go on all evening! I can read texts, emails, and Facebook all afternoon while half a dozen good books sit next to my chair without ever being opened. And (the chronic time waster of my life time) kids can watch virtually any program in the world for hours at a time and not have time to finish their homework. Should I go on?

Somehow our forefathers managed to read more, write more, build more, even attend church more. Maybe the biggest challenge in time management is ourselves, and it is a constant battle.

Keeping the main things the main things. At the first of the year we all need to be reminded of the essentials of the Christian life: prayer, Bible reading, church attendance, witnessing, and doing the things necessary for a close walk with God. I’m not talking about simply going through the motions without applying ourselves. These things are commanded of us in the Scripture. They are like food and water, clothing and shelter. These we ought to have done, and not left the others undone.

With all the advantages of the modern conveniences and the ability to work on the go, to communicate instantly, there is something good and settling about establishing patterns and times and habits for these basic Christian virtues. Sometimes we just have to turn everything else off and sit in a chair in a quiet room with our Bible in our laps (even if it’s an electronic Bible). And what about our kids and grandkids? Life will get even busier for them and they need to see biblical priorities in us. We need to leave those footprints in the sands of our time and pray that generations will follow wisely until the Lord comes.

And So . . .

Having said more than enough to begin a new year, let me end with the rest of Watts’ old song. I don’t know how he accomplished so much living in the 15th and 16th centuries, but may we match his enthusiam in ours.

Begin, My Tongue, Some Heavenly Theme (Isaac Watts, 1674-1748)

Begin, my tongue, some heav’nly theme,

And speak some boundless thing—

The mighty works or mightier name

Of our eternal King.

Tell of His wondrous faith-ful-ness

And sound His pow’r a-broad;

Sing the sweet prom-ise of His grace,

The love and truth of God.

His very word of grace is strong

As that which built the skies;

The voice that rolls the stars a-long

Speaks all the prom-is-es.

O might I hear Thy heav’n-ly tongue

But whis-per, “Thou art Mine!”

Those gentle words should raise my song

To notes al-most di-vine.*

*These verses still appear in Great Hymns of the Faith. Six other verses appear in his original version (in Songs and Hymns of Isaac Watts).

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Is Christmas Hateful?

December 2, 2016Written by Rick Shrader

Is Christmas Hateful?

by Rick Shrader

Have you wondered why Christ has been banned from the holiday which bears His name, Christmas? Or why Christianity alone is banned in a country which bears the insignia, “In God we trust?” Never mind the fatal inconsistency that in America everything is tolerated except what can’t be tolerated. And what can’t be tolerated? Anything that disagrees with what is tolerated.

How did we get here? A generation ago we were talking about a post-modern, post-Christian culture that was creeping into our society. Well, as Jude says, it has crept in unawares. We are now experiencing what a few years ago we were merely speculating about, and it is impacting our society with a vengeance. My hard files and electronic files are packed with evaluations which were made in the 1990s and beyond. At the time it was interesting, even intriguing, to think that America could lose its Christian identity in our own life time. It was In 1984 that Francis Schaeffer wrote, “Finally, we must not forget that the world is on fire. We are not only losing the church, but our entire culture as well. We live in the post-Christian world which is under the judgment of God.”¹

Soon afterward books began to appear that linked Schaeffer’s expression with the term “postmodern” derived especially from the French deconstructionist Jacques Derrida (1930-2004). By1990 other Christian writers were flooding the book stores with warnings about this coming phenomenon. One specific factor of which Christians warned was that there would be no absolute truth in a postmodern culture (a view they insisted was absolute). To insist on one’s belief being true would make another’s false, and this would be bigoted and even hateful.

While living and pastoring in Ft. Collins, CO, the local paper printed an article by a liberal Rabbi which read, “‘It is not sinful to be a gay and lesbian,’ said Rabbi Paul Menitoff, executive vice president of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, ‘It is sinful to have these prejudices and act out on them.’”² About the same time Dan Story had written,

This post-Christian and postmodern world holds to the premise that there are no absolute truths that apply to everyone equally. Christianity and Christian ethics are no longer relevant. In fact, orthodox Christians are seen as bigoted, narrow-minded, and anti-intellectual because we refuse to accept other religions as ‘paths to God’ or to consider homosexuality, pornography, or abortion as permissible in a moral society.³

Consider just a few other warnings sounded by prominent Christian writers at the time. John MacArthur wrote:

Think about it: pronouncing anything ‘true’ and calling its antithesis ‘error’ is a breach of postmodernism’s one last impregnable dogma. That is why to a postmodernist nothing is more uncouth than voicing strong opinions on spiritual, moral, or ethical matters.⁴

Alister McGrath wrote:

In a postmodern context, questions are likely to be raised about the New Testament’s emphasis on Jesus Christ being the only way to salvation (which is held to be inconsistent with postmodernism’s positive appraisal of diversity).⁵

Alan Wolfe, writing in the Atlantic Monthly wrote:

Postmodernism exercises such a fascination over the evangelical mind, I believe, because of the never-ending legacy of fundamentalism. In one sense evangelical scholars have moved away from Billy Sunday and in the direction of French poststructuralism: they cast their lot with those who question any truths rather than those who insist on the literal truth of God’s word.⁶

The result of all of this has been a new century where Christianity is feared because of its grand narrative of redemption exclusively through Jesus Christ and its commitment to the absolute truth of a written document, the Bible. Because of these, Christianity must not be allowed to speak in the public arena because these views are hateful by proclaiming other views false (that is, they came to wrong conclusions which is to say they were less intelligent, and that is a hateful thing to say). The Christmas holiday must only be allowed to display folk tales and seasonal things, in an effort to bring it down to the level of all other religious days. To speak of the unique Son of God becoming incarnate to provide the only way to God is, in a postmodern world, bigoted and hateful.

The postmodern view of the world, however, is unrealistic and false. In fact, it is itself unloving and uncaring. It substitutes obvious reality with destructive word games like deconstructionism, finding an evil intent behind all history; semiology, changing the usage of simple words into unintended meaning; and social constructivism, turning each person’s version of reality into their own reality.⁷ This is seen so clearly in today’s view of gender identity which dreams up a false identity for oneself, when, in fact, nothing could be more clear than that God made us male and female and in His own image.

The Reality of Christmas

The facts

First, a few facts need to be faced. The word “hate” is an easy tool to use against someone with whom you disagree. We like to attach “phobic” to anything opposed to cultural mores. If you disagree with homosexuality you are homophobic. If you disagree with another culture you are xenophobic. Postmodernism extends this supposed “fear” to “hatred” and then to “racism” (because everything from gender identity to sexual preference is now a “race”). These have become the worst crimes for humans to commit. Christians (and Christmas) are accused of these simply because they disagree.

But disagreement is not fear, hatred, nor racist. Disagreement is one’s assessment of right and wrong, something all of us do throughout each day of our lives. I disagree with eating dirt and I disagree with murder and for correct reasons. Historically, it can be shown, disagreement more often becomes a catalyst to discovery of the truth, not to hatred or fear. But when the truth is not allowed because it limits, forbids, or labels something as wrong, that is social totalitarianism, not freedom.

God labels many things wrong and, of course, He is right and has every right to say so. God made us in His image and that is our true identity regardless of how we may want to identify ourselves. It is for this reason that “God so loved the world” (John 3:16). God doesn’t tell us what is right and wrong because He hates us but because, loving us, He explains to us what is good and bad for us.

A difficult reality

God has told us something that is very difficult to accept but is absolutely necessary for us to know for our own good. That is that all human beings, though each one is made in God’s image, have sinned in Adam and are themselves sinners. The reality of our sinful nature is so obvious that it takes the sleight of postmodernism to deny. Why do we have to teach children to do right? Why do we have a rule of law in every society? Why does every person have a conscience? All of these things exist, and must exist, because of the reality of our fallen nature.

It does no good at this point to blame God for our sinfulness. As they say, “it is what it is.” God made us with a choice and holds us accountable for it. Sin is real and God is still holy.

An even more difficult reality

There is an everlasting punishment for sins called hell, and for two very good reasons. The first reason is that God Himself is absolutely holy and good and will deal with anything contrary to Himself. This doesn’t mean that He deals with it immediately. In fact, God is very longsuffering with us so that we have time to respond to Him (2 Peter 3:9). The second reason is that unrepentant sin will be dealt with in a very harsh way, a way that equals God’s goodness and holiness. “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). It’s not that the holy God knew this and did not care, for even that would be uncharacteristic of holiness. Rather, the holy and good God has not only revealed the truth about this, but has done something magnificent to remedy the situation.

A divine moral dilemma

That may not sound right since whatever is truly divine is never caught in any moral compromise, but the apostle Paul, in the third chapter of Romans (verses 21-31), presents it as if it were. There is no way for fallen human beings to become right with God again on their own. “There is none righteous, no, not one” (3:10); “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (3:23). God cannot simply place a waiver on sin. For to ignore sin and leave it unaddressed would make Him guilty, less than holy. Something must be done that does not impugn God’s holiness in this way.

You may have noticed that Christmas carols are also avoided in public. One reason is that they also display this difficult reality and moral dilemma. “Long lay the world in sin and error pining.” “No more let sins and sorrows grow,” the Christmas carols record. Yet right here is the postmodern dilemma also. The reason for the Christian’s Christmas message is because we have found ourselves helpless and sinful and in need of divine deliverance. God has said that we are wrong! He has said that He disagrees with us! By postmodern creed He would be hateful to say such a thing to us. You may try to find your way out of the dilemma by going that way, or you may, in humility, see God’s way out.

Joy to the World

The righteousness which we all need has come from God Himself, and from Him alone. If just one man could live righteously before God, God could be satisfied in him, but none can. So God, being Himself Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, sent His only Son into the world to be that perfect man. But will He save only Himself, and let all the world perish? No, rather He will give Himself to die in their place and then let whosoever will accept Him as their substitute. Then salvation is by grace, that is, we are not saved by our works, but by the righteousness of the One Who lived without sin and died in our place. “To declare,” Paul says, “I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus” (Romans 3:26). Dilemma solved!

No more let sins and sorrows grow;

Nor thorns infest the ground;

He comes to make His blessings known

Far as the curse is found, far as the course is found,

Far as, far as, the curse is found.

O Holy Night

Now we see why Christmas is so loved by the humble and so hated by the proud. That miracle, that divine moment, God became a man to do for man what man could not do for himself. The condemnation of eternal hell was upon all of us. We were without hope and without God in a sinful world. But at that moment of incarnation, when the angels sang and the heavens rang, the only possible hope for all mankind was born. “When the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons” (Galatians 4:4).

O holy night! The stars are brightly shining,

It is the night of the dear Savior’s birth;

Long lay the world in sin and error pining,

Till He appeared and the soul felt its worth,

A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,

For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn,

Fall on your knees, O hear the angel voices,

O night divine, of night when Christ was born!

O night, O holy night, O night divine!

O Come All Ye Faithful

The Christian’s Christmas message is both narrow and broad. It is narrow in that God declares loudly that it is the only way to Him. “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6). “There is no other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). In this day of multi-everything, this road is too narrow, too exclusive. In the world’s terms it is “bigoted” to exclaim that one has the only truth. But God’s Word (and therefore the Christian’s Christmas) says it!

But it is also very broad. “Whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). The real blessing of Christmas, the real joy to the whole world is that salvation is made possible for every man, woman, boy and girl. This is God’s Christmas gift to the world. The only condition, as with any gift, is to receive it. So it is good news that we can’t earn it or pay for it. The whole world is in the same lost condition so God solved the universal problem with a gift. “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23). Only the giver of a gift had to pay the price and Jesus did when He died for us. The receiver is only the recipient.

O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant,

O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem!

Come and behold Him, born the King of Angels!

O come, let us adore Him, O come let us adore Him,

O come, let us adore Him, Christ the Lord!

And So . . .

Is Christmas hateful? Is God hateful? To many this seems to be the case. They cannot find it within themselves to admit their need of a Savior. They will not accept a gift (and the love of God!) that is given because of the incapacity of the receiver. Such would make a person humble, it would make him necessarily thankful, and this the prideful human heart is averse to admitting.

But you may this very moment. “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:13). It is a promise from the Giver. When you do, the light of heaven will open to you and Christmas will be Christmas again.

Notes:

Francis Schaeffer, The Great Evangelical Disaster (Wheaton: Crossway Books, 1992, copyright 1984) 90.
“Reform Rabbis Get OK to Sanction Same-Sex Unions,” Ft. Collins Coloradoan, 3-30-00.
Dan Story, Engaging The Closed Mind (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 1999) 9.
John MacArthur, The Truth War (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2007) 189.
Alister McGrath, Mere Apologetics, Grand Rapids: Baker, 2012) 158.
Alan Wolfe, “The Opening of the Evangelical Mind,” The Atlantic Monthly, October, 2000, p. 73.
These terms taken from my seminar notes on Postmodernism.

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Local Churches and Their Pastors

October 29, 2016Written by Rick Shrader

Local Churches and Their Pastors

by Rick Shrader

The month of October afforded me a number of opportunities to fellowship with local church pastors from various states and even countries. Though I have written on the local church a lot this year, I want to relate the blessing that I received from my fellowship with these men and also to enhance our appreciation for the ministry of smaller local churches around us.

I grew up in and around large Baptist churches in the 50s and 60s and I loved everything about them. I was saved at Lockland Baptist Church in Cincinnati, John Rawlings, pastor, a church of thousands. In the summers I attended church with my grandparents at High Street Baptist Church in Springfield, MO, Bill Dowell, pastor, and later David Cavin (when it was still on High Street) a church of thousands. I was saved at 11 years old and baptized when I was 16. God called me to preach at 18 under the ministry of Dr. Rawlings. I also served as his youth pastor a couple years after school. I say this only to relate that I have nothing against large churches and, in fact, am the result of their ministries. I will also admit that these men were extraordinary men who were gifted in many ways. Dr. Rawlings still called me from time to time and asked about my family.

Yet my experience in ministry has been with and around churches of hundreds, not thousands, and sometimes with less than a hundred. I have also noticed that pastors of these smaller churches are usually capable of more responsibility and this is a great advantage for these churches. This is also an advantage for the pastor if he truly desires and loves to pastor people. There will always be those extraordinary men whose ministries grow larger scripturally, and may God increase their number.

Smaller local churches are and have been the backbone of our country. We have all been blessed driving through the country-side or city and seeing the steeples of church buildings rise above the roof tops. I know that towns often seem crowded with the churches, but, given the denominational differences and the populations, it usually works out fine. I have known a number of Baptist churches in very small towns whose Sunday attendance exceeded the town’s population, reminding me that there are people living everywhere. The pastors of these churches are unsung heroes. They are jewels on the rough edges of our culture. They are the boots on the ground of ministry. They and their churches blanket our country with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Let me tell you about four experiences I have had with small church pastors in the last six months that greatly encouraged me.

Ontario, Canada.

In July I attended (and brought the evening messages for) a pastors’ retreat called Shepherd’s Camp in Ontario, Canada. This camp is sponsored by Berean Baptist Church, International Falls, MN, pastor Ross Crowe, and by Victory Baptist Church, Ft. Frances, Ontario, pastor Shane Belding. The retreat was attended by pastors from Ontario, Minnesota, and Iowa. I wish I had the space to name all the men and their churches (with all four of my experiences!). What a blessing it was to interact with these men all week and to hear the stories of their local ministries! These men pastor in small towns which are filled with difficult challenges concerning drugs, homelessness, single mothers, and more. I no longer think of small town America as Andy and Barney in Mayberry. These are rough places to minister and it takes a special kind of person to do it. The pay is minimal and often demands a bi-vocational situation. The living situation is tough on families. There is little to no recognition and yet many of these men spend their whole lives in one church and community. But the blessing of the week was hearing the many stories of conversions, the rescue of broken homes and lives, and the struggles with a sparse living condition.

It was my second year at this camp. These guys love to fish and I have gotten my poles wet again for sure. The eagles fly everywhere. The camp has no electricity or running water—which tells you why it is a men only camp, although they do youth camps throughout the summer. Maybe those northern kids are tougher than we know. My most memorable moment this summer was when a bald eagle dived for a Northern Pike we had thrown out of the boat and splashed in the water 10 feet from the boat! A spectacular moment for sure! My reward, however, was getting to know great pastors like these men. You’ll never hear from them or read about them in the denominational paper. They will go about their business unsung. But don’t feel sorry for them. They are doing the greatest and most rewarding work and the blessing is all theirs.

Smithville, Missouri

I pastor Faith Baptist Church in Smithville, MO, north of Kansas City. We are four years old this year and had our fourth annual Bible Conference this fall. This year instead of having a single speaker for the conference, I invited four local pastors from the Kansas City area to speak, one each night, on the four nights of our conference. As an added bonus for our small church, the men brought special music each evening from their church. Our church family prepared a meal each evening before the service. I wanted our folks to get to know the pastors and churches that I know and fellowship with in the area. It was a great success.

We were privileged to hear pastor Webster Frowner, First Regular Baptist Church, Kansas City, MO; pastor Bruce Anderson, Olivet Baptist Church, Kansas City, KS; pastor Chuck Brocka, missionary pastor at Fair Haven Baptist Church, Kansas City, KS; and pastor Tom Hamilton, Stony Point Baptist Church, Kansas City, KS. These men pastor average size churches around the KC metropolitan area. They are not nationally known speakers but they speak as pastors to church people. They related familiar stories about their ministries that our people understood. It didn’t have to be professional. We moved tables and chairs, we had piano and hymn singing, we recorded each sermon and put it on our web site, we greeted and talked late after each service.

Though we have always had wonderful men of God speak to us at our conferences, many of our folks said that this was one of their favorite conferences because it made them realize that there are many other churches like ours which struggle with the same things in the same city-wide area. Sometimes there are great things in our own back yard.

Wichita, Kansas

I often attend the western Missouri, eastern Kansas Regular Baptist Association meetings. They (we) have a prayer meeting each month and bi-annual meetings each year. This fall the conference was in Wichita at Westlink Baptist Church with pastor Dick Smith. Dick has been there since Noah got off the ark and has a great ministry and is well known in the community. The conference speaker was pastor Stan Lightfoot from Rustic Hills Baptist Church, Colorado Springs, CO. I have known Stan for years dating back to my many years in Colorado. Stan brought timely messages on the homosexual problems that now challenge our churches and communities. It was very informative and brought us all up to speed on this important issue.

The men who attended this conference were also pastors of small and often rural churches. One pastor who spoke went to a church of about a dozen people and has seen it grow to over 100. There are many of these churches around our states that are without pastors and which are looking for men and families who will make the sacrifice to come to a smaller area. There are retired pastors from the Kansas City area who travel every weekend to assist and preach for these churches. When these pastors get together they have a great time telling stories, enjoying the meals provided by the church, praying with one another, and learning from one another. Departing time seems to be sweet sorrow.

Soldotna, Alaska

This last month I was privileged to speak at a men’s retreat at Higher Ground Baptist Bible Camp in Soldotna, Alaska to the men from various churches of the Alaska Baptist Association. It was a great group of pastors and laymen, some from the local Kenai peninsula, and some from as far north as Fairbanks. I don’t have to tell you that these men are hunters and fishermen, maybe even mushers. One afternoon’s enjoyment was skeet shooting which I enjoyed because I don’t do that much in my back yard in Kansas City. The moose walked all over the camp grounds and the eagles flew over head.

In addition to the activities and sessions, several ladies and young people from the area provided meals which were absolutely delicious. Many of these young people grow up serving in their churches and in various outreach opportunities. The harsher outdoors culture seems to make them tough but disciplined. Even younger children (some were my grandchildren) ran around doing chores, often in shirt sleeves in the cold air.

During the week I once again heard stories of great but unknown men and churches. A few of the older men were virtual pioneers to this “last frontier” state and had seen several generations of pastors and families come and go. It’s not an easy place to come and stay if you’re not acclimated to the Alaska weather. These churches have struggles as any other churches: finances, building issues, shortages of help, discouragement. But they are more of our great unsung heroes of the faith.

Persuading young men

Perhaps we can persuade more young couples to go to the smaller churches in rural areas or inner cities and accept the smaller works. It is a tough time. Our graduates have heavy debt loads, wages in churches are not a lot, there is no notoriety in those places. But if God has ordered it, He will pay for it, now or in eternity. Let’s pray the Lord of the harvest to send forth laborers.

Observations to be made

Most New Testament churches were small churches. We are never told the actual attendance numbers of the churches in New Testament times but it doesn’t seem to be that they were large churches. The Jerusalem church was the exception. It started out with about 120 people and grew to 3000, then 5000, and perhaps more. The reasons for its phenomenal growth, however, were not repeated: It experienced the day of Pentecost; it had twelve apostles ministering in it; it saw the first great miracles done by the apostles; it was in the religious center of Judeo-Christian activity; and it was the only church in existence at that time. As the first century progressed and the New Testament was revealed, we see smaller, struggling churches spotted throughout the Roman Empire.
Most churches throughout the age of grace have been small. There were exceptions to this as well, but believers everywhere gathered together on the Lord’s Day wherever they lived with the believers in that area. I have seen the roll of John Bunyan’s and William Carey’s churches in England and they were fewer than 100 people. I have looked at the history of pastors such as Andrew Fuller, John Sutcliffe, and John Rylands with the same result. Even in the early days of Spurgeon’s church with famous pastors (Benjamin Keach, John Gill, John Rippon) it was not a large church. Spurgeon became its notable exception.
Most of our Baptist churches today are relatively small. I have been to many mission fields with missionaries and the great majority of them have been very small churches. There have been more popular times when our churches were larger and maybe they will come again. But noses and nickels are not our objective per se. We are to be faithful to God, preach the Word, and win souls to Him. The Bema Seat will reveal “how” not “how much.” Perhaps we have passed through a time when we only honored success by the size of the ministry and young men get discouraged in lesser works. Too many seminars teach us to build up, step up, add to, spread out, and increase. That is all well and good in its place. But so is faithfulness and godliness with contentment.
Many small churches may do more in a city than one large church. This may depend on a number of factors, but wouldn’t ten locations be better than one? Wouldn’t ten visitation programs be better than one? Wouldn’t ten youth programs and children’s ministries be better than one? Wouldn’t a hundred Sunday School teachers be better than ten? And wouldn’t we teach God’s people more about normal Christianity? I said in the beginning of this article that I am not opposed to large churches. Praise God when growth happens. I am only arguing also for the integrity of the smaller ministry which is the norm for most pastors and churches.
Only the Lord knows the days that are ahead for His churches. We are not the same America of two hundred years ago, or even fifty years ago. We kill human children as soon as they are able to be born, cut them to pieces as one would a chicken, and sell them to the highest bidder. We teach our children to seek a homosexual and fornicative lifestyle and deny the way God made humans male and female. We legalize drugs faster than we fight them, and wonder why young criminals are nearly super-human and out of control. We undress more than we dress up. We sing profanity more than we learn grammar. And we have again turned God’s house of prayer into an emporium of selfishness.

I preach the soon return of Jesus Christ for a pretribulational rapture of His church. If I really believe we could be living in those days, I also must believe that we may see darker days ahead. If so, we are going to need Christianity and local church life that is serious, reverent, uncompromising, and filled with the joy of the Lord, not the love of the world. This is going to take churches that are personal, face to face, with pastoral relationships for every member, worship that can appreciate the simple truths of the faith in prayer, song, and sermon. Our local New Testament Baptist churches are tailor made for that need. If the local church was the divine instrument for the pagan first century, it is also for the pagan twenty first century.

And so . . .

Charles Ryrie has written, “Indeed, one receives the impression from the New Testament that the Lord preferred to have many smaller congregations rather than one large group in any given place. And there seemed to be no lack of power that stemmed from lack of bigness.”¹

In addition, Rolland McCune has written, “The ‘household of God,’ the ‘church of the living God’ is, in context of the Pastoral Epistles and I Timothy 3, the local church of the New Testament. It is the ‘pillar and support of the truth’. To that institution has been committed the fate of revealed truth in this dispensation.”²

These things being true, our support and involvement in the local churches in our time, not just the larger and well-known ones but the smaller and less-known ones, is a Biblical imperative.

Notes:

Charles Ryrie, Balancing The Christian Life (Chicago: Moody Press, 1994) 20.
Rolland McCune, Promise Unfulfilled (Greenville: Ambassador International, 2004) 74-75.

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The Local Church of Revelation

October 1, 2016Written by Rick Shrader

The Local Church of Revelation

by Rick Shrader

All conservative scholars agree that Revelation is the last book to be added to the canon of sixty six inspired books and that the apostle John is the author. John is given his three-fold division of the book as, “the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter” (1:19). The first division contains only chapter one, the things which John was presently seeing. The second division must be chapters two and three concerning the seven churches of Asia, because the third division is obviously what follows in chapters four to the end, “I will show thee things which must be hereafter” (4:1).

The description of the seven churches of chapters two and three, “the things which are,” constitute the last revelation concerning the New Testament church. This comprises the church age which will last until the tribulation, described in chapters four to twenty two, begins. The appearing of Jesus Christ to John on the Isle of Patmos (vs. 9) happens more than sixty years after Christ’s resurrection and ascension back to heaven. There were many other things happening at that time to which the Lord might have turned John’s attention, but the Lord was supremely interested in seven small local churches in Asia.

The order in which the churches are mentioned has been the source of many interpretations. The historicists see seven periods within the church age ending with the apostasy of the Laodicean age. But it is better to see the seven churches as the “things which are” in John’s time. The order they are mentioned simply corresponds to the circle in which John would have traveled when delivering the letters, starting in Ephesus and ending in Laodicea.

The letters to the seven churches become uniquely important to us because they represent the final form of the local church, churches that were planted most likely by the apostle Paul’s efforts and were now under the direct influence of the apostle John. Not that there is contradiction in the New Testament but rather a solidification of the doctrines, a settling of the foundation into concrete form. There are many significant components to the churches in these two chapters. Here are five which are very important.

Jesus Christ

Jesus is doing the speaking, that is, the revealing to John. Red letter editions of the Bible use a lot of red ink in these chapters. In chapter one, verse one, we see that God the Father gave this revelation to Jesus Christ Who gave it to His angel who gave it to John who is now giving it to God’s servants. John sees Jesus as He is in His post-ascension, glorified body. Paul confessed earlier that “though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more” (2 Cor. 5:16). From now on Jesus will be in the form that flesh takes when it is resurrected and glorified, even as John testified, “when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2).

John describes our Lord in this fashion:

12 And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks; 13 And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. 14 His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; 15 And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters. 16 And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength. (1:12-16)

Jesus is walking among the candlesticks which are the seven churches. He has the angels (pastors) in His right hand. He says to every church, “I know thy works.” Each description of Him is applied to one of the churches as it relates to their spiritual condition. He is the Head of the church; resurrected, glorified, eternal, omnipotent, and Owner of the scroll, the deed to the whole earth. One by one He will peel off the seals and claim the rightful ownership of His own creation.

The Apostle John

John is the last of the apostles and the last of the inspired writers of Scripture. There will be many who claim the title: Muhammad, Joseph Smith, and still today we have groups like the New Apostolic Reformation with such well-known men as C. Peter Wagner and Rafael Cruz.¹ But they are false apostles about whom John often spoke (1 John 4:1). No man since John was baptized by John the Baptist or walked with Jesus during His life on earth, nor have they seen Christ after His resurrection as Peter declares, “whom, having not seen, ye love” (1 Pet. 1:8). True apostles like John suffer and die. Preachers may make pulpits famous, but apostles and prophets made prisons famous.

John declares himself as the last biblical writer:

18 For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: 19 And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. (22:18-19)

The Bible is a canonized collection of 66 books of which Revelation is the last. To a train of 66 cars, one can only take the last one off or put one more on. That is why this statement is properly placed here. This is the last one to be put on. Matthew Henry so eloquently said, “This sanction is like a flaming sword, to guard the canon of the scripture from profane hands. Such a fence as this God set about the law (Deut. 4:2), and the whole Old Testament (Mal. 4:2), and now in the most solemn manner about the whole Bible, assuring us that it is a book of the most sacred nature, divine authority, and of the last importance, and therefore the peculiar care of the great God.”² No one ought to assume himself a Bible writer, or even claim that “God told me,” who does not also claim for himself the wrath of God mentioned in these verses.

The Seven Churches

Jesus stood in the midst of seven golden lamp stands and declared, “the seven candlesticks are the seven churches” (1:20). They are golden because they are most precious in His sight. Jesus could have appeared in Jerusalem and instructed the scattered Jewish nation or in Rome and corrected the great world power. But “the things which are” concern God’s primary agency in this age of grace, the New Testament local church. He walks among them and holds their messengers in His right hand. He knows them intimately, encouraging or correcting where necessary.

Churches aren’t perfect as these seven churches demonstrate and serve as examples for all churches to come. Five of the seven receive severe reprimand but all hear words such as, “I know thy works,” and “nevertheless I have somewhat against thee,” and “be thou faithful unto death,” and “that which ye have already, hold fast till I come.” The command to “repent” is given to five of the seven churches and the admonition to “overcome” to all. The same could be and should be said to all churches throughout the age.

The letters to the churches are natural and interesting to read. The New Testament was largely written to churches, even though those churches may have had apostles, prophets, pastors, and teachers in them. These seven letters, like the earlier epistles, were addressed to believers at specific locales. Though believers today comprise the universal church, or body of Christ, every believer ought to be a baptized member of a local church. This is the organization that Christ loves and to which He writes letters. As Paul finished his first epistle to the Thessalonians he wrote, “I charge you by the Lord, that this epistle be read unto all the holy brethren” (1 Thes. 5:27). As he finished his epistle to the Colossians he wrote, “And when this epistle is read among you, cause that it be read also in the church of the Laodiceans; and that ye likewise read the epistle from Laodicea” (Col. 4:16). This is most natural because that is where the believers would be. As John was finishing this book of Revelation, the Lord said, “I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches” (22:16). John would faithfully make the circle from Ephesus to Laodicea, delivering the letters and later the whole book to seven local churches. Why? Because that is where the “holy brethren” would be gathered. John also received this revelation on “the Lord’s day” (1:10), “the first day of the week” (1 Cor. 16:2), as in Troas, “when the disciples came together” (Acts 20:7).

The Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit baptized the believers into the body of Christ on the day of Pentecost. When Jesus ascended back to the Father’s right hand, the Holy Spirit descended and began His office work in the age of grace, the church age. He is the Baptizer, the Sealer, the Withholder, the Convicter, the Empowerer, the Inspirer. The Holy Spirit dwells on the earth only through regenerate people. “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” (1 Cor. 3:16). “In whom ye also are builded together for a habitation of God through the Spirit” (Eph. 2:22). Some may build a habitat for humanity, but we are a habitat for divinity!

The book of Revelation contains one of the most unusual descriptions of the Holy Spirit in all of Scripture. In 1:4 He is described as the “seven Spirits which are before His throne.” In 3:1, “These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God.” In 4:5 John sees, “seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.” Then in 5:6 John sees the Lamb slain Who has “seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.” Some see this as a reference back to Isaiah 11:2 where the Spirit is described with seven attributes. Walter Scott says of John’s description, “The plenitude of His power and diversified activity are expressed in the term of ‘seven Spirits,’ the fullness of spiritual activity.”³ Joseph Weiss wrote, “Seven is the number of dispensational fullness and perfection, and as there are seven churches, making the one Church, so there are ‘the seven Spirits of God,’ making up the completeness of the one gracious administration of the Holy Ghost.”⁴ It would be safe to say that the Holy Spirit does a mighty and complete work in every believer, hence every church, throughout this age. He will be removed only when the church herself is removed (2 Thes. 2:6-7.

The Angels of the Churches

Pastors described as angels is also a unique but not unheard of description in the Scripture. We know that the word angelos means a messenger, and that is what pastors are to their churches. It is not unusual either for demons to be called “angels” or “stars” (see 12:4, 7, 9). David was said to be “as an angel of God” to Achish (1 Sam. 29:9) and Mephibosheth said to David, “My lord the king is an angel of God” (2 Sam. 19:27). Old Testament priests were “messengers of the Lord of hosts” (Mal. 2:7). In the New Testament John the Baptist was “my messenger” (Mk. 1:2) and his disciples were called “messengers” (Lk. 7:24). Paul’s thorn in the flesh was a “messenger of Satan” (2 Cor. 12:7). All these are translations of angelos. In 19:10 an angel will say to John, “I am thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren” meaning that angels and church leaders have very similar functions as messengers.

The angels, or messengers, of the churches were seen in the Lord’s right hand, as if He walked with them through their church saying “I know thy works . . .” It is not out of order to notice the singularity of pastors in these churches. Though a church may have more than one pastor serving the church, it cannot have less than one. And in these cases that one is uniquely important. Whereas, however, each letter starts out with Jesus addressing the pastor and walking and talking with him, each letter also gives way to the Holy Spirit working in the entire congregation with the repeated phrase, “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.” The pastoral responsibility gives way to the congregational responsibility.

And so . . . .

The local churches in various cities and countries are seen to be the primary focus of the Lord, the Holy Spirit, the pastors, and the congregations in this age of grace. The world will never understand how such seemingly powerless entities can affect great things for God. But we should never despise the day of small things (Zech. 4:10). “God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty” (1 Cor. 1:27). It was to the poor and little church of Smyrna that the Lord said, “I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich)” (2:9). “Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?” (Jas. 2:5).

Our reward is in heaven. The book of Revelation doesn’t end with chapter three. The church is raptured out during the seven terrible years of tribulation, never to be seen or mentioned as on the earth. During the first scene in heaven (chapter 4) the saints receive their crowns and cast them down at Jesus’ feet. Then (chapter 5) the saints from every kindred and tribe sing upon the crystal sea, “Thou art worthy” to the Lamb. In chapter 19 the church returns from heaven with Christ on white horses and then reigns with Him for a thousand years. The last two chapters, 21 & 22, describe the beautiful city, which is our abode eternally, coming down out of heaven as a bride adorned for her husband, as the church, the bride of Christ, is adorned for her husband, the Son of God.

Until then, let us be doing what John writes, “The Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely” (22:17). Amen. Even so, come , Lord Jesus.

Notes:

See, “Deception in the Church,” http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/orrel65.pdf.
Matthew Henry, Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible, vol vi. (Old Tappan: Fleming He. Revell Co., nd) 1188.
Walter Scott, Exposition of the Revelation of Jesus Christ (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 1982) 24.
Joseph Seiss, The Apocalypse: Lectures on the Book of Revelation (New York: Cosimo, 1900) 27.

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