Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Divine Vindication Through the Resurrection


     Jesus of Nazareth was condemned to die by the religious leaders of His day.  The charge offered against Him was blasphemy, because He claimed to be the Messiah and the Son of God.  There was no evidence contrary to His claims, but the hatred that spewed out of the overly zealous self-righteous persecutors refused to see the truth.  Herod could find nothing wrong with Him.  Pilate could not find any fault in Him.  So the legal charge trumped up against Jesus was blasphemy, or speaking against God.  If His claims of deity were false then certainly He would have been blasphemous.  
     As He was suffering intense beatings, many assumed He was merely human.  While He was dying upon the cross, the crowd primarily agreed that He was a blasphemer.  After Jesus took His last breath and was buried in that borrowed tomb, it seemed as though He had been defeated.  However, something unprecedented occurred on the third day after His crucifixion.  Jesus was resurrected!  
     In the resurrection of Christ, one can see that His condemnation is divinely vindicated.  Romans 1:4 says that Jesus is “declared to be the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead.”  Acts 13:33 is linked with Psalm 2:7 in heralding that God has raised up Jesus from the dead in order to proclaim that Christ is the divine Son of God.  Wolfhart Pannenberg wrote, “If this man was raised from the dead, then that plainly means that the God whom he had supposedly blasphemed has committed himself to him...The resurrection can only be understood as the divine vindication of the man whom the Jews had rejected as a blasphemer.”  
     In spite of the accusations offered against Jesus then, and the excuses for not following Jesus today, this fact remains:  Jesus is the living Lord.  He has been divinely vindicated by God the Father through the resurrection.  He demands our attention and He deserves our worship. 

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

A Ministry Worth Living

Paul writes to Timothy in 1 Tim. 4:14-16 with words of challenging encouragement.  He says, "Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the eldership.  Meditate on these things; give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all.  Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine.  Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you."

These words of holy scripture cause me to consider whether I am faithful in a ministry worth living.  I don't just mean as a pastor, but as a follower of Christ, the question must be asked.  Am I fully giving my life in service to God and others in the way that fulfills the high calling of the name "Christian"?  Here are some introspective questions that I believe the Holy Spirit is challengingly encouraging me to ponder:

1.  Am I fully utilizing that which God has imparted to me?  The Bible says "do not neglect the gift that is in you".  The concern is not just that I do not abuse or misuse the gift, but that I do not neglect the gift.  Too many wasted moments and opportunities in my life confirm that I need God's help to empower me to fully utilize the gift entrusted to me.
2.  Am I thoughtfully stirring up the giftedness God has imparted to me?  Meditate, meditate, meditate.  Most often as a teacher I am thinking about the scripture and life's events regarding how I can communicate God's truths to others.  First, before all else, I must commune (with God) before I can rightly communicate (to others).  So many times we don't find the "right" words because we have not first meditated upon THE right WORD.
3.  Am I giving myself entirely to the expression of these gifts?  Vs. 15 says, "give yourself entirely to them".  Entirely?  Really?  Yes!  In every aspect of my life, it is to be a ministry worth living.  Pray without ceasing, make disciples as you are going.  Every moment is a sacred opportunity to commune with Christ and help others do the same.
4.  Is my progress in Christian growth and service evident to others?  No need to be showy, actually there is no room for show-offs in the kingdom of God, only humble servants.  However, my "progress should be evident to all."  There was obvious evidence when I first began to follow Christ, but over the years it sometimes feels that my personal growth is not so evident.  Dear Lord, please help me to continue in Your sanctifying grace, to be more like you each day, to abide in Your holy presence.  Please let it be that others will see You magnified through me.
5.  Is my salvation steadfastly persevering?  "Continue in them".  What a noble calling!  Too many people think only of their beginning and fail to properly work toward finishing well.  We must continue if we will endure to the end.  We must fight the good fight and finish the race.  Discouragement (especially with my own failures) threatens to sideline me, but continue I must, by the power of Christ in me!
6.  Are others being saved because they are seeing and hearing God's grace alive in me?  In a ministry worth living we find salvation.  The saving of ourselves and others through the faithful work of Christ.  The truth expressed in Christian doctrine and the grace imparted through God's gracious gifts provide safeguards to keep us in salvation.  To depart from either one is to enter into the imponderable mystery of apostasy.  However, you understand that word, let us at least agree that it must be avoided at all costs.  The question is, does my life lead me and others to Christ?

God, help me to live a ministry worth living.  To make each moment count for the good of others and for Your glory.  May my light so shine that others will see my good works, and will also come to glorify my Father in heaven.

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

How Not To Grow A Church

R.G. Lee spoke with clear prophetic utterance when he addressed this question, "How did Southern Baptists not grow?"  These words were spoken regarding the pinnacle of growth that had been experienced among Southern Baptist churches.  I believe it would serve us well to blow the dust off these ideas and reimplement them in our practices today.  Lee offered these 9 points in avoiding mediocrity in the churches.  We should not:

1.   Practice open church membership - this will devaluate our Baptist position.
2.  Disregard the Scriptural meaning of, and invitation to, the Lord's Supper - this will cheapen communion.
3.  Play down the importance of baptism - this will stifle our testimony.
4.  Emphasize ecumenicity - this will erase our distinctives.
5.  Be apologetic regarding the use of the name "Baptist" - this will weaken our prestige.
6.  Deny direct kinship with the New Testament Christians - this will cut the root of Biblical and doctrinal strength.
7.  Minimize the importance of training - this will close the churches on Sunday evenings.
8.  Take the side track of fanatical conservatism or radical liberalism - this will produce a series of splinter groups.
9.  Solicit financial support from non-Baptists - this will make beggars of the churches.

As I read this list, I realize that most of our churches have erred on most of these points.  My desire is not to beat up on the churches that Jesus loves, but to call us to reform.  That we might once again return to the faith that was once delivered unto us.  Each of these points are rooted either in biblical imperatives or in profound historical significance.  Hopefully, we have not become so ignorant of both that we cannot even see our departure from these truths.

I would like to invert these 9 points and offer them as good counsel to anyone planting or seeking reform in a church.

1.  Practice biblical church membership - regenerate people seeking to follow Christ in a covenant with God and one another for the sake of mutual responsibility and the propagation of the gospel.
2.  Fence the Table - Communion is to be holy, for baptized believers only, and should symbolize sacrifice not convenience.  "For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself." 1 Cor. 11:29
3.  Elevate the importance of Baptism - this is your profession of faith in Christ and inauguration into membership of a church, by ignoring it you are living without the most foundational commitment of Christianity.
4.  Get together in God's Word - all disciples of Jesus should be united by His atoning work, which is perfectly revealed in the Bible.  If someone will not unite on the Scriptures, they have moved away, not us.
5.  Don't apologize for being "Baptist" - negative connotations abound, but so do they with the name "Christian" and so did they in the 1st century.  The historic prestige of the free-church movement and the freedom we now enjoy owes gratitude to the Baptist forefathers that were killed because they believed we should be free.  Explain it, don't erase it.
6.  Be Biblical - there should never be a time when being Baptist means anything other than being Biblical.  Enough said.
7.  Offer more Bible training - biblical illiteracy is killing us.  The level of acceptance for what is now considered, "biblically knowledgeable" needs much help.  Sunday night is a good time, after all it is the Lord's Day...all day.  Many may not attend, but its better to have 10 people praying and studying than it is to have 0.  Preach expositionally.
8.  Be knowledgeable - the key to avoiding counterfeits is to know the truth.  To be theologically naive or ignorant is to contribute to fanatical conservatism and/or radical liberalism.
9.  Be a joyful giver - God's finance plan was initiated thousands of years ago.  Tithing is good but its only the beginning.  If everyone in our churches gave joyfully there would be more than enough.

May Christ be exalted and may His churches be faithful!