The spirit of unity pervades Christianity, and tends to bring the disciples of Christ into association with one another. Under the influence of this tendency, churches are formed; and in them an opportunity is given for display of brotherly love.  By the display, Christ is honored, and the world become convinced that his religion is divine. For the sake of Christ, therefore, and for the sake of the world, every church should labor to promote brotherly love.

The churches are the glory of Christ, not only in the brotherly love which they exhibit, but in their purity and devotion to the service of God. They are but small and temporary associations; yet they may reflect the glory of Christ to the view of an admiring world, as pure dew‑drops reflect the brightness of the sun. So to honor Christ, should be the constant effort of the churches; and to effect this, care should be exercised over the spirituality of every member. The pastor should devote himself, with incessant toil and prayer, to the spiritual good of his flock; the deacons should unite their efforts with his for the attainment of the great end; and the members should watch over one another, exhort one another, and provoke one another to love and good works.

It appears that he learnt the way of salvation experimentally, ere he knew it accurately by theory and system; and thus no doubt it was that his whole ministry was little else than a giving out of his own inward life (Bonar, Memoir, 28). 

And again . . .

From the first he fed others by what he himself was feeding upon.  His preaching was in a manner the development of his soul’s experience.  It was giving out of the inward life (Bonar, Memoir, 36). 

There are few things more necessary and precious than for a pastor to give out of his inner life.  This presupposes that there is communion with God and gleaning from the field of God’s word.  Last week was a particularly precious time for me as I spent time preparing my messages for the Lord’s Day: Ephesians 2:1-10 (AM) and Numbers 21:4-9 (PM Communion).  I’ll summarize my sermons for you.  

Ephesians 2:1-10: “Discovering Two Paths”
My approach to this passage is to view this passage from the perspective of two paths: the path of death (vv. 1-3) and the path of life (vv. 4-10).  The path of life can only be accessed by the gate called grace (v. 5, 8).  I went through this passage in four sermons.  Here’s how I approached this passage:

The Path of Death (vv. 2:1-3)

The hinge on which Ephesians 2:1-10 turns is the prepositional phrase “But God” in v. 4.  This glorious prepositional phrase contains gospel truth!  It points us to God’s merciful and loving intervention!

The Path of Life (vv. 4-10)

The sermons from Ephesians 2:1-10 set before me anew and profoundly my depravity and condition before God in my natural state which is the ground for magnifying His amazing, merciful, and loving grace!  Not only did He gloriously save me, I remain God’s good, patient, beautiful, relentless work as He works in me and through me!  Amen.

Numbers 21:4-9: “The Cross Behind a Veil”
Jesus expounded the Scriptures (OT) to the disciples on the road to Emmaus.  Among the truths He revealed to them was “that the Christ should suffer . . . (Luke 24:46a).  Philip saw, through illumination, that Jesus fulfilled the Scriptures (John 1:45).  Jesus foretells His suffering to His disciples no fewer than three times (Luke 9:22; 17:25; 22:15).  Luke summarizes this in Acts 1:3, “He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs . . .” The suffering of Christ was a key theme in Peter’s (Acts 3:18) and Paul’s (Acts 26:22-23; 28:23) preaching ministries.  In fact the noble Bereans, who searched the Scriptures to verify Paul’s teaching in Acts 17:11, were examining the Scriptures (again, the OT).  But examining what?  They were examining if what Paul was saying concerning the Christ, including that “it was necessary for the Christ to suffer” (Acts 17:2) was true.  So it is a good exercise to go back in the Scriptures, what the Jews call the Tanakh and what we Christians know as the Old Testament, to discover some places of the places that spoke about the future suffering of the Christ.

From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom. And the people became impatient on the way. [5] And the people spoke against God and against Moses, ‘Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food.’ [6] Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. [7] And the people came to Moses and said, ‘We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you.  Pray to the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us.’ So Moses prayed for the people. [8] And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.’ [9] So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live. (Numbers 21:4-9)

We find the cross behind a veil in Numbers 21:4-9.  What is the basis for this statement?  John, in his gospel, pulls back the veil for us to see the cross behind the bronze serpent!  We find that Numbers 21:4-9 is one of the places in the Scriptures that show us that Jesus would suffer, by signifying the kind of death He would die.  This is evidenced most clearly in John 3:14-15 and by the other two “lifted up” passages in the gospel of John (8:28; 12:32-34).

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, [15] that whoever believes in him may have eternal life (John 3:14-15)

So Jesus said to them, ‘When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me’ (John 8:28)

‘And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.’ [33] He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die. [34] So the crowd answered him, ‘We have heard from the Law that the Christ remains forever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?’ (John 12:32-34)

Isaac Watts wrote:

As when the Hebrew prophet raised
The brazen serpent high,
The wounded looked and straight were cured,
The people ceased to die.

So from the Savior on the cross
A healing virtue flows;
Who looks to Him with lively faith
Is saved from endless woes.
(Isaac Watts, “As When the Hebrew Prophet Raised,” 1709). 

The main point of this post is simply to say that shepherds need to eat too.  After some sweet time in these texts, my soul is full.

3/6 Update: Dave Doran offers a friendly rejoinder to Bauder’s article here.  (HT: Chris Anderson, My Two Cents)

Too much time has elapsed since our last newsletter.  Hopefully this gets you up to speed on what’s going on in our lives and ministry. 

You can access our newsletter here. 

Grace and Peace,

Doug, for the family

When the Reformers spoke about ‘grace alone’ (sola gratia), they were saying that sinners have no claim upon God, none at all; that God owes them nothing but punishment for their sins; and that, if he saves them in spite of their sins, which he does in the case of those who are being saved, it is only because it pleases him to do it and for no other” (James Boice, Whatever Happened to the Gospel of Grace?, 107).

The pillars of the reformation, including sola gratia, were all rediscovered NT truths that had been lost in Catholic soteriology.  When we encounter the Johannine declaration about Jesus, “And from his fullness we have all received grace upon grace” (John 1:16), we cannot help but magnify grace.  Paul called the Ephesian believers to rejoice in this stunning grace: “to the praise of his glorious grace” (Ephesians 1:6).  It is no wonder then that the reformers returned to sola gratia.  All the NT authors highlight grace.  For instance, the author of Hebrews, Peter, and John open or close their writings with grace: 

Hebrews 13:25, “Grace be with all of you”

1 Peter 1:2, “May grace and peace be multiplied to you”

2 Peter 1:2, “May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.”

2 John 3, “Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Father’s Son, in truth and love.”

Revelation 22:21, “The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.”

Yet the Apostle Paul seems to take grace to the next level.  How?  The apostle who experienced the saving grace of God (1 Corinthians 3:10; 15:10) and suffered to proclaim the grace of God (Acts 20:24) begins and ends every one of his epistles with grace!

Romans

1:7, “To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ”

16:20, “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.  The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.”

1 Corinthians

1:3, “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

16:23, “The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you.”

2 Corinthians

1:2, “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

13:14, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”

Galatians

1:3, “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ”

6:18, “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers. Amen.”

Ephesians

1:2, “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

6:24, “Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love incorruptible.”

Philippians

1:2, “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

4:23, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.”

Colossians

1:2, “Grace to you and peace from God our Father.”

4:18, “I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. Remember my chains.  Grace be with you.”

1 Thessalonians

1:1, “Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace.”

5:28, “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.”

2 Thessalonians

1:2, “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

3:18, “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.”

1 Timothy

1:2, “To Timothy, my true child in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.”

6:21, “for by professing it some have swerved from the faith.  Grace be with you.”

2 Timothy

1:2, “To Timothy, my beloved child: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.”

4:22, “The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you.”

Titus

1:4, ‘To Titus, my true child in a common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.”

3:15, “All who are with me send greetings to you. Greet those who love us in the faith. Grace be with you all.”

Philemon

3, “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

25, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.”

It seems that “amazing grace” all too quickly becomes “boring grace,” as Boice put it.  In other words, grace is pedestrian for the believer amidst the daily grind.  But it need not remain that way.  For a moment, do this.  Remember who you were before the grace of God appeared in your life.  Recall the thoughts, words, and deeds that were a part of your daily routine.  Now think of the sinful bents in your life, unfettered by the grace of God and left to the passions of your flesh and the desires of your body and mind.  What thoughts would you allow to nest in your mind?  What words and volume would characterize your responses?  What fleshly desires would you indulge in?  If we forget what a totally depraved sinner looks like apart from the grace of God, grace ceases to be amazing.  When we remember who were before grace and who we are in Christ after grace, grace will become amazing once again!  It will lead to spontaneous praise like when the blind man who received his sight exclaimed in front of the Pharisees, “though I was blind, now I see!” (John 9:25).  It will also yield the good fruit of humility.  “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9).  As John Bradford (1510-1555), the English reformer and martyr, famously uttered while imprisoned when he saw a criminal on his way to execution, “There, but for the grace of God, goes John Bradford” we too humbly say, as God’s grace keeps us from sin, “There, but for the grace of God, go I.”

So, be strengthened, Christian, by the life-giving, stunning grace of God!  2 Timothy 2:1, “You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus.”  Be holy, Christian, motivated by the redeeming, saving grace of God!  Titus 2:11-12, “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, [12] training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age.”  The grace of God is nothing short of amazing—it saves, strengthens, and sanctifies!   

O may this strange, this matchless grace,
This Godlike miracle of love,
Fill the whole earth with grateful praise,
and all th’ angelic choirs above,
And all th’ angelic choirs above.

Who is a pardoning God like Thee?
Or who has grace so rich and free?
Or who has grace so rich and free?
(Samuel Davies, “Great God of Wonders”)

The Bible

• Inerrancy means that the Bible tells the _______________.
• List two references that teach the Bible is inspired:

The Trinity

• Provide one verse that teaches “oneness-in-threeness.”

The Person of Christ

• How many natures did Christ have?
• How much of each did He have? 
• Provide at least one text on the deity of Christ.
• Provide at least one text on the humanity of Christ.
• Give me a verse that summarizes both.

The Work of Christ

• What work did Christ perform in the past?
• What work does Christ perform in the present?
• What work will Christ perform in the future?

Angels

• How many angels are there?
• T or F: The Devil is God’s evil peer. 

Mankind

• What does very person have that distinguishes man from animals (see Genesis 1:26-27). 
• How many parts comprise man?  Support with a passage or two.
• What is man’s purpose?  Support with a Bible passage.

Sin

• Define sin.
• What does Psalm 51:5 teach us about original sin?
• How has sin affected every person? 

Salvation

• Define the gospel and list at least one passage that supports your definition.
• Can a true believer fully or finally fall away?  Provide Scripture.
• What is a synonym for faith?

The Church

• What is the mission of the church to the lost?  What is the mission of the church to the saved?

Future Events

• What are the two final destinies?
• What is the duration of each destiny?  Provide Scripture.

The eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good (Proverbs 15:3, ESV)

A very thought-provoking blog post, “God Watches You Google.”  This is an excellent reminder about the connection between our character and Google.