Following Christ in Serving One Another [Biblical Theology of the Diaconate #37, 2023.06.04 Sabbath School]

Just as Christ humbled Himself and gave Himself for us, so we respond to Him by humbling ourselves and serving others—in dependence upon His grace and demonstration of His grace—even (and in some cases, especially) in material things.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

How to Live as Sheep of a Mighty Shepherd [2023.04.12 Midweek Sermon in 1Peter 5:1–11]

We do things God's way, Christ's way, because it is His, and He is bringing us to glory.

(click here to DOWNLOAD video/mp3/pdf files of this sermon)

Under a Mighty, Caring Hand [Family Worship lesson in 1Peter 5:6–11]

What is the key to pairing proper humility with proper confidence? 2Timothy 1:13–14 looks forward to the second reading in morning public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these two verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that proper humility comes from an awareness of the mightiness of God’s hands, under which we humble ourselves, and proper confidence comes from awareness of the infinite care of Him upon Whom we cast our cares. (click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

2023.04.13 Hopewell @Home ▫ 1 Peter 5:6–11

Read 1 Peter 5:6–11

Questions from the Scripture text: What are all Christ’s sheep to do (1 Peter 5:6)? Under Whose hand are they to humble themselves? What sort of hand is it? And what will God do for them? When? What is an essential part of humbling ourselves (1 Peter 5:7)? How much of our care are we to cast upon Him? How much of it is to be cast upon something else? What, in addition to the mightiness of His hand, prods us to cast upon Him every one of our cares? With what two commands does 1 Peter 5:8 begin? Watching against whom? Who is he to us? Where does he go? Like what does he go around? What is he seeking as he goes around? What does this imply about the identity of the ones who will be devoured? What else are the sheep to do to him (1 Peter 5:9)? How can they do this—steadfast in what? What do they know; about whom; where? Who is the answer to all of this—both to what we need to do and what the devil is trying to do (1 Peter 5:10)? What is God called here? How did each sheep end up in this situation? To what did God call them? Whose glory? What sort of glory? By Whom did God call them to His own, eternal glory? Through what will we go, for how long, before we come to that glory? What four things is God doing for us in and through this suffering? What is the outcome of this being the way that we were called, that we walk, and that we will arrive (1 Peter 5:11)?

What is the key to pairing proper humility with proper confidence? 1 Peter 5:6–11 looks forward to the second reading in morning public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these two verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that proper humility comes from an awareness of the mightiness of God’s hands, under which we humble ourselves, and proper confidence comes from awareness of the infinite care of Him upon Whom we cast our cares. 

The “mighty hand of God” in 1 Peter 5:6 is the key to humility in the church. Lest elders be tempted to think too highly of themselves, let them remember that their lowliness is not first with respect to other sheep, but with respect to the Chief Shepherd. Thus, an elder may remember that he too is a sheep; for, it is none other than the mighty hand of God under which he is humbling himself! 

And let the rest of the flock, if they are in a true church, not be hindered from humility by the unworthiness of their elders. A true church preaches Christ as God the Son crucified and risen for sinners, and administers the sacraments as instructed under Christ, and employs discipline to guard against the denial of the gospel whether by false teaching or “Christians” who live unrepentantly and scandalously. 

So, though the undershepherds in true churches will be sinners, they are still appointed by the Chief Shepherd, and it is under His mighty hand that the flock humbles itself as it submits to the elders. Since it is God’s hand under which they humble themselves, and not the elders’ hands, the elders must require only what God requires and forbid only what God forbids. For, the submission that the flock gives to his oversight is not a humbling under the elder’s hand but God’s. And let the elder show this not only by the limited scope of his authority but also by the gentle manner in which he oversees a flock that belongs to God, not to himself. 

The Spirit then reminds us of the love that moves this mighty hand of God: “casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.” This reminder is especially needful for those who have a fearful and mistrusting tendency in their own hearts, and who may even have been wounded by elders in the past. The remedy for such reluctance and timidity is a clear view of the immeasurable love of God in which He cares for us. The apostle had seen the extent of this care as he personally witnessed “the sufferings of Christ” (1 Peter 5:1). He could never doubt that this One Who died in that way, under that wrath, cared for him. 

And you and I cannot doubt it either, dear reader. Did He love us so much then, only to have that love wane in our troubles? Did He go to the cross with all His heart, then heartlessly assign you the particular elders that you have in a true congregation of His church? How great is the care of the Lord Jesus Christ! 

And let the reminder of His love protect us from yet another danger: casting our cares upon the undershepherds themselves. We will be able to see love of the Savior in faithful elders, but we must be sure to have our comfort in His love, rather than theirs. The better they love us, the more we will be tempted to cast our cares in some measure upon them. But 1 Peter 5:7 will not permit this. They are not the Chief Shepherd. They did not die for our sins. There is an infinitely greater Care moving the mighty hand of God. Humbling yourself under the mighty hand of God includes “casting ALL your care upon Him.” For thousands of years, He has been carrying brothers through the sufferings of this world, from both within and without the church (1 Peter 5:9). 

As we considered on Monday, this structure for the protection of the flock was His plan. And that which He has planned in His wisdom, He makes effectual by His power. He is “the God of all grace” (1 Peter 5:10). The suffering is only for a little while (verse 10). His perfecting, establishing, strengthening, and settling of believers is forever and ever, and will bring Him glory for unending ages (1 Peter 5:11).  In His great kindness, He devised this plan for glorifying His mighty hand. You can trust Him. Humble yourself under that hand; cast all your cares upon Him.

By what regular actions and mental habits do you keep yourself mindful of God’s mighty hand? Do you seem to have more difficulty humbling yourself under that hand’s power or casting your cares upon that hand’s love? Upon whom are you tempted to cast your cares instead of the Lord?

Sample prayer:  Lord, thank You for loving us and revealing that love in Christ, so that we may know not only the power of Your mighty hand but the care of Your mighty hand. Forgive us for when we shrink from submitting to those whom You set over us, because we forget that it’s under Your mighty hand that we are humbling ourselves. Forgive us for when we cast our cares upon anything or anyone other than You. Even these requests, these cares, we cast upon Your Spirit in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, AMEN!

ARP23B “The Lord’s My Shepherd” or TPH517 “I Know Whom I Have Believed”

Humbled by Grace for More Grace [Family Worship lesson in 1Peter 5:5]

Why, and how, is humility so important in the life of the church? 1Peter 5:5 looks forward to the second reading in morning public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In this verse of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that humility gives us a proper view of ourselves, proper incentive to follow God’s authority structure for the church, and a proper view of how we are interacting with God. (click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

2023.04.12 Hopewell @Home ▫ 1 Peter 5:5

Read 1 Peter 5:5

Questions from the Scripture text: Who are the counterparts to these elders (1 Peter 5:5)? How are they to relate to the elders? Whom else are they to treat as more important than one another? What clothing “outfits” them for this way of thinking and interacting? How does God treat those who do not have this clothing? What does He give those who do have it? 

Why, and how, is humility so important in the life of the church? 1 Peter 5:5 looks forward to the opening portion of morning public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In this verse of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that humility gives us a proper view of ourselves, proper incentive to follow God’s authority structure for the church, and a proper view of how we are interacting with God. 

This verse tells us to be clothed with humility before encouraging us that God gives grace to those who do so. In the following verse, this will become a direct command, “humble yourselves.” Humility, humility, humility. What a significant part of biblical church life this is! And we see why even in the wording of the instruction to submit to the elder.

The instruction to submit to our elders is so obvious that it ought not be necessary. After all, this is the way by which the Lord Jesus has opted to guide us: through elders who oversee us in the church. Case closed. And yet, the Lord urges submission to our elders in many places in the New Testament. That which should be obvious, we apparently need to hear over and over again. Doesn’t this call us to watchfulness against an independent, or even rebellious, spirit in the church? Once we see that we are so prone to resist God’s ordained authority structure, we begin to understand how urgently we need humility.

“Youngers” in 1 Peter 5:5 is actually “new ones.” “Newbies,” to use the vernacular. Part of the humility that the Spirit teaches us here is to consider ourselves as newbies before God, who are in need of shepherding and oversight. This was part of the wisdom of Solomon in 1 Kings 3:7 and the fitness of Jeremiah for ministry in Jeremiah 1:6–8. Either man might have had a high view of himself, but viewed himself instead as barely having made a beginning in the faith, hardly fit for their duties, like toddlers who do not know how to go out or come in or speak. A believer needs to be able to confess genuinely before God, “I am a toddler before You, not knowing how to go out or come in or speak.” Such a spirit will go a long way toward facilitating a healthy body-life in the church.

When 1 Peter 5:5 continues the chapter by saying “all be submissive to one another,” it is not erasing the authority structure that the Lord has put in place, but rather forbidding all self-superiority or self-serving. In order to reconcile this verse with what precedes it, we must maintain a recognition that the Lord gifts and graces particular men who are to be examples. 

When the Spirit says, “all of you be submissive to one another,” it is not a flattening of His work or denial that there is such a thing as a more mature believer. Rather, this verse makes plain that with maturity comes even more humility. Notice a couple things about the first instruction about humility. First, it’s a passive command: “be clothed.” It’s a command that we can’t even accomplish for ourselves. It has to be done to us. Second, it’s clothing that comes from another and is put upon us. It’s not something that we have the ability to produce from ourselves. How needy we are of grace, that even humility comes as clothing from Christ! 

Thankfully, in God’s wisdom, as He clothes us with more humility, He makes us more and more an object of His grace. “God gives grace to the humble.” We don’t become any less needy of grace as we grow, so He widens the channel of that grace as He “grows us down” in humility. 

This should be alarming to anyone who feels superior in himself. The one who is conceited in himself or looks down upon others should worry that he is not actually being clothed by Christ. Even worse (?!), he provokes God to enmity. For, “God resists the proud.” A proud shepherd in the church is a living contradiction! All proud sheep are ripe for destruction. Dear reader, may the Chief Shepherd give you His own mind to consider others as better than yourself and to look out for their interests as much as for your own.

How does your being a “newbie” before God come out in your prayers? How does it come out in your habits? How does it shape your thoughts toward others and your interactions with them? Where can you get humility? How do your habits show that you are trying to get it?

Sample prayer: Lord, we praise You for humbling Yourself to take the form of a bondslave, be found in appearance as a man, and offer Yourself up to death upon the cross for us. And, we thank You that by Your Spirit, You take Your own humility and clothe us with it. O, give us grace that we might grow in humility and be, more and more, objects of Your grace! Glorify Yourself in Your church, which we ask in Your own Name, Lord Jesus Christ, AMEN!

Suggested songs: ARP131 “My Heart Is Not Exalted, LORD” or TPH488 “May the Mind of Christ, My Savior”

Knowing and Showing the Worthy Glory of the Chief Shepherd [Family Worship lesson in 1Peter 5:1–4]

How does Christ bring Christians to glory? 1Peter 5:1–4 follows up upon the morning sermon from this past Lord’s Day and helps prepare for the next one. In these four verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that Christ, the Chief Shepherd who suffered and was glorified, is bringing His sheep through suffering into glory, in part by oversight from other sheep who count both the suffering and the glory worthwhile in Christ.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

2023.04.11 Hopewell @Home ▫ 1 Peter 5:1–4

Read 1 Peter 5:1–4

Questions from the Scripture text: Whom is the apostle addressing (1 Peter 5:1)? What type of address is it? What does he call himself? To what two things is he a witness? Whose sufferings, and Whose glory are they? What is the primary (one-word) command of 1 Peter 5:2? What does he call the congregation? Whose flock are they? Where is this flock? What are the elders to do as overseers? What sort of service are elders to provide? What three characteristics must NOT mark this overseeing (1 Peter 5:2-3)? What three characteristics MUST mark it instead? If the shepherds are examples to the sheep, what does this remind us that the shepherds themselves are? So, what is Christ called in 1 Peter 5:4? What will the undershepherds receive when he appears? What will not happen to this glory?

What pitfalls must elders avoid as they shepherd God’s flock?  1 Peter 5:1–4 follows up upon the morning sermon from this past Lord’s Day and helps prepare for the next one. In these four verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that since believers are always in danger of doing correct things for wrong reasons, elders must be motivated to persevere in the ministry by that which proceeds from the Lord’s own love for His people. 

Yesterday, we saw that in the Chief Shepherd’s plan to bring His flock to glory, He gives some of the flock the assignment of being elders who shepherd and exercise oversight. But overseers must take heed to their motivations, because overseeing is often unpleasant. 

It’s precisely because we need the guidance and oversight that God has given these undershepherds. And “sheep” who need such help are sinners. They sometimes bite or bully the other sheep whom the Chief Shepherd is appointed to help them—especially when the undershepherd is trying to retrieve them from going their own way and becoming easy prey for the lion. But it’s not the unruly flock that is the most danger to the elders. We can see their dangers in the three contrasting pairs of instruction in 1 Peter 5:2-3. 

Not by compulsion but willingly. An elder may shepherd as someone who is compelled by duty to do that which he resents. Such an elder views God’s people as a burden. But they are not a burden. They are precious. Protecting them and guiding them is a labor of love. And it’s a privilege to be called to that place. Husbands and parents must resist viewing their wife or children as a burden in the home, so also must elders in the church. Overseeing not by compulsion but willingly.

Not for dishonest gain but eagerly. An elder may shepherd not out of a desire for the glory of Christ in bringing the flock into His own glory… but twistedly, shamefully, aiming at his own glory. He must have the mind of the friend of the Bridegroom who said, “He must increase, and I must decrease.” Many wolf-elders have practiced oversight to increase themselves. Financially. Their reputation. Their control. Their self-satisfaction. Their influence. 

Believers’ hearts are always in danger of aiming to advance themselves rather than glorifying Christ in doing good to others. And nowhere is this more twisted and shameful than with an elder. Rather than being incentivized by something else to seek the good of the sheep, the good of the sheep should itself be what his heart seeks.

Nor as being lords… but examples. Elders must exercise authority, but it’s a bottom-up authority. It mustn’t be the domineering authority that the lords of the nations exercise, but that willingness to be made the lowest that the Lord of lords displayed (cf. Matthew 20:25–28; Philippians 2:1–11). One of the ways that believers are helped to have “the mind in them that was in Christ Jesus” is when the undershepherds among them are examples of that very same mind. 

Elders should be willing to suffer much for the good of others. It should be evident that they prefer others to themselves, that they set others’ interests above their own. When the one who oversees you is obviously sacrificing himself to do so, he is to the flock an example of what it looks like when Jesus has redeemed a sinner and is now conforming him to His likeness. This is true leadership in the church.

What Christian duties are you most tempted to approach as a burden rather than a privilege? What “gain” do you most often find yourself pursuing in a self-seeking way? How are you fostering eagerness for God’s sake rather than selfishness? How is it evident to others that you consider them more valuable than yourself, and their needs just as important as your own?

Sample prayer:  Lord, thank You for giving Yourself as the greatest example of true service. Please help our elders to be good examples of what it looks like when You start making a sinner to be like Yourself. And, by Your Spirit, use those elders and all of Your appointed means to give us the mind of Christ as well, we ask through Christ, AMEN!

Suggested songs: ARP131 “My Heart Is Not Exalted, LORD” or TPH488 “May the Mind of Christ, My Savior”

2023.04.10 Hopewell @Home ▫ 1 Peter 5:1–4

Read 1 Peter 5:1–4

Questions from the Scripture text: Whom is the apostle addressing (1 Peter 5:1)? What type of address is it? What does he call himself? To what two things is he a witness? Whose sufferings, and Whose glory are they? What is the primary (one-word) command of 1 Peter 5:2? What does he call the congregation? Whose flock are they? Where is this flock? What are the elders to do as overseers? What sort of service are elders to provide? What three characteristics must NOT mark this overseeing (1 Peter 5:2-3)? What three characteristics MUST mark it instead? If the shepherds are examples to the sheep, what does this remind us that the shepherds themselves are? So, what is Christ called in 1 Peter 5:4? What will the undershepherds receive when he appears? What will not happen to this glory? 

How does Christ bring Christians to glory?  1 Peter 5:1–4 follows up upon the morning sermon from this past Lord’s Day and helps prepare for the next one. In these four verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that Christ, the Chief Shepherd who suffered and was glorified, is bringing His sheep through suffering into glory, in part by oversight from other sheep who count both the suffering and the glory worthwhile in Christ.

Going to glory. The apostle does not lord it over the elders to whom he writes. He calls himself a “fellow elder” in 1 Peter 5:1. He is “also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed.” His instructions to the elders are the path by which they “will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away.” And then, having widened his audience in 1 Peter 5:5 to include the rest of the church, he reminds them that “the God of all grace [has] called us to His eternal glory” (1 Peter 5:10).  It is unto this God that “the glory” is due and will be forever and ever (1 Peter 5:11). 

Here is great incentive for us to pay attention and put into practice what the apostle describes in this passage. When he says, “humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time” (1 Peter 5:6), He is not just telling us that if we humble ourselves for a time, the Lord will raise us out of it. Rather. He is telling us that this humbling of ourselves is the path by which He has determined to raise us all the way up to His eternal glory in Christ Jesus!

Shepherding and shepherded along the path. Jesus is the “Chief Shepherd;” it’s His appearing to which 1 Peter 5:4 refers. His people are referred to as “the flock” in verse 4. The devil, who seeks to devour them, is described as “a roaring lion” in 1 Peter 5:8. But the Chief Shepherd has a plan by which the church “resists” this lion (1 Peter 5:9). Not only does the flock stick together along the path, but He has given them elders whose task to is to “shepherd the flock of God” by “overseeing.”

If you are a Christian, where will your life end up? Who is taking you there? Who are the specific men, at this point in your life, that the Chief Shepherd is using to do so? What roles do you have in the church and in your home? How do the instructions to your elders here apply to your own roles?

Sample prayer:  Lord, thank You for the glory to which You are bringing us, and for the suffering that it has cost You. Thank You also for shepherding us through our own sufferings along the way. Grant unto us to fulfill our roles in Your church in a way that reflects Your own love for Your flock, which we ask in Jesus’s Name, AMEN!

Suggested songs: ARP32AB “What Blessedness” or TPH433 “Amazing Grace”

Reproached with Christ While Being Built Up into Christ for God's Praise [Family Worship lesson in 1Peter 2:4–10]

Pastor is on holiday with his family and prepared them for the morning sermon that they are going to hear in public worship tomorrow. In God's providence, the passage (1Pet 2:4–10) matches Matt 5:10–12 in theme. We are blessed to be identified with Christ and persecuted for His sake. This is the lot of all the church from Abel until the last day. Hopewell will be in Matt 5:13–16, which matches 1Pet 2:11–12.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

Born into a Living Hope in Christ (2021.12.12 Morning Sermon in 1Peter 1:1–12)

Because our hope is in a resurrected, ascended, returning Christ, it cannot be lost or reduced.

(click here to DOWNLOAD video/mp3/pdf files of this sermon)

WCF 16.2.7–9, Glorious, Heavenly Fruit of Good Works (2021.11.28 Sabbath School in John 15:5–8, Philippians 1:3–11, 1Peter 2:11–12, Ephesians 2:4–10, Romans 6:15–23)

Good works glorify God and fit us for glory.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

WCF 16.2.6, Good Works Silence Enemies (2021.11.21 Sabbath School in 1Peter 2:11–25)

Even if good works are not used of God to silence our enemies through conversion now, they will especially shame and silence our enemies in their condemnation on the last day.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

“Of Good Works” part 5, WCF 16.2.2, Good Works Express Thanks; the Best Work Is Worship (2021.10.17 Sabbath School in Psalm 116:12–19 and 1Peter 2:4–10)

In this Sabbath School class, we continued the second paragraph of WCF 16, here examining Psalm 116 and 1Peter 2 in order to understand that with good works being according to God's commandments, the best work is to obey the first Great Commandment. This means, especially, the public worship of God. How do we show thanksgiving for His mercy? By good works, and especially by the best work.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

Suffering Like Jesus, through Faith in Jesus (2021.09.26 Morning Sermon in Luke 23:1–12)

Even as Christ was purchasing our forgiveness and our liberty to live righteously under His leadership, He was setting us an example of how to live righteously when suffering for doing good.

(click audio title within player for a page where you can download video/mp3/pdf files of this sermon)

2021.08.24 Hopewell @Home ▫ 1 Peter 1:3–9

Read 1 Peter 1:3–9

Questions from the Scripture text: What is the apostle doing unto God in 1 Peter 1:3? What does he call God? What has God done to us? According to what characteristic of His? Through what action of Christ’s? Unto what kind of inheritance (1 Peter 1:4)? What will not happen to it? Where is it reserved? And what keeps believers who are on earth (1 Peter 1:5)? Through what? For what? When will this salvation be revealed? But what can believers already do about it (1 Peter 1:6)? Even though what else may be happening now? What do such events “test by fire” (1 Peter 1:7)? How precious is it? What three things does this genuine faith bring? When? What haven’t we done with Christ (1 Peter 1:8)? Yet, what have we still done with Him? What do we not do with Him now? What are we doing instead? And what does this believing cause us to do—with what kind of joy? What, then, are we already in the process of receiving (1 Peter 1:9)? What is the end of our faith?

Next week’s Call to Worship, Prayer for Help, and Song of Adoration all come from 1 Peter 1:3–9, so that we will see that we are singing God’s thoughts after Him with Rejoice, Believer, in the Lord. 

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ… who has begotten us.” God is worthy of praise for all of His perfections and for all of His works, but for the believer, our greatest cause for praise goes to who God is in Himself, because He Who has eternal fellowship within Himself has brought us into that fellowship. 

Before God saved us unto an adoption in which we have Him as Father, He has from all eternity, in Himself, that from which all true fatherhood and sonship springs. The highest reason for the Christian to “greatly rejoice” that we are already receiving salvation is that it is this rejoicing which makes us to praise God. 

“to a living hope.” Jesus’s resurrection means that our hope is alive. His ascension into heaven, where He sits on the throne, means several other things about this hope. It is incorruptible; just as God is the incorruptible God because He is perfect and cannot change at all, let alone become less good, the incorruptibility of our hope means that it can never become less good. 

Our hope is undefiled; just as our High Priest is holy, harmless, and undefiled, so our hope is perfectly pure and holy. It is not a hope for satisfying the fleshly lusts, but for satisfying the holy desires of that new nature that we have by the regeneration of the Holy Spirit. Every pure and right desire of this nature will be abundantly and eternally satisfied.

Our hope is unfading. It is not like the borrowed glory on Moses’s veiled face, which was fading away. It is a participation in the glory of Christ Himself; its intensity and brilliance can never wane or fade. We cannot see it now with eyes of flesh, so we must look upon it through the lens of passages like this, with eyes of faith. Behold your unfading hope!

“who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation.” By the end of 1 Peter 1:9, we find that believers are already receiving the end (goal) of our faith: the salvation of souls. It is this salvation which 1 Peter 1:5 tells us will also be revealed in the last time. We already have it, and we know wonderful things (1 Peter 1:4) about it, but we don’t see it yet. 

Well, there is actually something that helps us to see it more: “various trials.” They grieve us “now for a little while,” but they are also proving the genuineness of our faith. Because our hope is bound up in a resurrected, reigning Christ, the trials can’t destroy our faith but rather prove its imperishable nature. 

Suddenly, we see that for believers, trials are a mechanism by which God shows the true quality of our faith: much more precious than gold. Gold? Even fire does not destroy it but only purifies it, but in the end gold perishes. Faith in Jesus Christ? That’s forever. And when He appears, this will be found to His praise, honor, and glory.

“joy inexpressible and full of glory.” One of the marvelous things about the salvation to come is that faith already enjoys the great part of it: “Jesus Christ, Whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice.” 

Loving Christ and rejoicing over Christ are the essence of faith. Loving Christ and rejoicing over Christ are the great part of our inheritance and our salvation. When trials come, they show us that they cannot separate us from Him Whom we most love, and over Whom we rejoice. If we are already rejoicing with joy inexpressible, what will it be like when we see Him Whom we love and over Whom we rejoice? The thought should ravish the already-inexpressible-rejoicing heart.

Blessed be God indeed!

Through what trials are you going? What are they showing about the quality of your faith?

Sample prayer: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, how glorious You are from all eternity! And yet You have given the Son for us, so that by Your Spirit, we might also know You as our Father in Christ. Forgive us for how often, in our trials, we focus on the trials themselves rather than what they are showing us about Yourself, our inheritance, and the faith that You have given us. Grant that we would so love Jesus, and so rejoice over Him, that even grievous trials would make Him and our faith more precious to us, which we ask in His Name, AMEN!

Suggested songs: ARP4 “Answer When I Call” or TPH486 “Rejoice, Believer, in the Lord”

"Of Saving Faith" part 13, WCF 14.3.3, Growing up into a Full Assurance (2021.05.30 Sabbath School lesson)

Multiple apostles, in multiple places, identify those whom they are addressing as believers out of a desire that the faith these believers currently have would grow up into a full assurance.

Saving Faith 3—How Faith Grows, part 1: Preaching and Baptism (2021.03.21 Sabbath School on WCF 14.1.4)

by which also, and by the administration of the sacraments, and prayer, it is increased and strengthened

Born Again and Nourished by the Imperishable Seed of the Word (2020.11.28 Pastoral Letter and Hopewell Herald)

Hopewell Herald – November 28, 2020

Dear Congregation,

In this past week’s morning sermon, we heard that one of the ways that God is merciful to such sinners as we are is by giving us covenant children as His holy seed, and especially by bringing Christ into the world as the seed of the woman.

This theme of undeserved begetting and undeserved birth runs from Genesis 3 through John 3, holding out to us how merciful God is to dead and guilty sinners—and a great part of that mercy now stands before us in the form of His day and His worship tomorrow.

This week in the M’Cheyne plan, we were reading 1Peter 1, where we find this glorious passage:

²² Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, ²³ having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever, ²⁴ because

“All flesh is as grass,

And all the glory of man as the flower of the grass.

The grass withers,

And its flower falls away,

²⁵       But the word of the Lord endures forever.”

Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you.

1Peter 1:22–25

When we hear the Scripture read, and especially when we hear it preached (v25), there is something eternal and powerful going on, something that outlasts this world.

God’s living and active and powerful Word is what the Spirit used to give us spiritual birth (v23). It will not and cannot fail in us, and it is the means by which also He sanctifies us (cf. Jn 17:17), working in us that fervent love for one another from pure hearts that v22 commands:

² as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, ³ if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.

1Peter 2:2–3

And where, especially are we nourished by this “pure milk of the Word” that gives the growing and maturing that we need as those who have been given spiritual birth? It happens where we come to the Lord as a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, who offer spiritual sacrifices. It happens in public worship!

⁴ Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, ⁵ you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

1Peter 2:4–5

Looking forward to growing together, by the pure milk of the Word, in this indestructible and glorious life that God has given us,

Pastor

Humbled, Lifted, and Upheld by God's Mighty Hand (1Pet 5:6–7 Prayer Devotional)

In prayer, we come to our mighty, caring God and Father. And in prayer, we place ourselves under and upon His hand—submitting ourselves under His wisdom, and securing ourselves upon His will