Officers Specialized by the Spirit for Overseeing Service to Soul or Body [Biblical Theology of the Diaconate #39, 2023.06.25 Sabbath School]

The 39th lesson in the congregational series on the Biblical Theology of the Diaconate, in preparation for recognizing, ordaining, and installing a proper diaconate.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

The Trinity and Knowing God [2023.02.05 Morning Sermon in 1Corinthians 2—Theology Conference Session 4]

What is theology? Older authors defined it shorthand as the doctrine of living to God. Longhand, it is the doctrine of living to God, through Christ, by the Spirit. Yet do we not lose our moorings? All our talk about divine attributes, predestination, baptism, salvation, child-rearing, prayer, worship, and anything else is empty if our highest aim is not to know God. Theology is a true story about God and how we come to know Him and live with Him. 1 Cor. 2 teaches us how to know God by giving us the means, the matter, and the Mover needed to know God through Christ. We need to hold the appropriate work of each divine person in their proper places to preach in demonstration of the Spirit's power, and in order to know the Spirit's power as we hear preaching. The point Paul is making could not be more vital to the church today.

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

Brought into the Incomparable Glory of God by His Own Glorious Being, Glorious Plan, and Glorious Work [Family Worship lesson in 1Corinthians 2]

With what did the apostle come to the Corinthians? 1Corinthians 2 looks forward to the morning sermon on the coming Lord’s Day. In these sixteen verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that what the apostle brought to Corinth was not the wisdom of men but the power and wisdom of God brought by the life of God Himself. (click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

2023.02.04 Hopewell @Home ▫ 1 Corinthians 2

Read 1 Corinthians 2

Questions from the Scripture text: How did Paul not come to them (1 Corinthians 2:1)? What did he come declaring instead? What was he determined not know (1 Corinthians 2:2)? What, alone, was he determined to know? What about Christ did he emphasize? How did Paul present himself before them in 1 Corinthians 2:3? What did his preaching appear to be missing, to some (1 Corinthians 2:4)? But with what did that preaching come? What did this keep them from putting their faith in (1 Corinthians 2:5a)? What did it ensure that they would put their faith in (verse 5b)? What kind of wisdom do Paul and his partners not speak (1 Corinthians 2:6)? To what are the rulers of this age coming? Whose wisdom does Paul speak (1 Corinthians 2:7)? When had God ordained it? For what purpose? How many of the rulers of that age knew that wisdom (1 Corinthians 2:8)? What wouldn’t they have done if they had known it? What hadn’t man’s eye seen, ear heard, or heart considered (1 Corinthians 2:9)? Through what (Whom!) has God revealed them (1 Corinthians 2:10)? From where, alone, can come the knowledge of the things of God (1 Corinthians 2:11)? So, whom must believers receive if they are to know the things of God (1 Corinthians 2:12)? So, what wisdom does Paul speak (1 Corinthians 2:13)? For what kind of people? What kind of person cannot receive them (1 Corinthians 2:14)? Why not? How are they discerned? But who has the resources to judge all things (1 Corinthians 2:15)? What is the expected answer to the question, “who has known the mind of the Lord” (1 Corinthians 2:16)? What is the surprising actual answer at the end of that verse? 

With what did the apostle come to the Corinthians? 1 Corinthians 2 looks forward to the morning sermon on the coming Lord’s Day. In these sixteen verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that what the apostle brought to Corinth was not the wisdom of men but the power and wisdom of God brought by the life of God Himself. 

(1 Corinthians 2:1-5). What do we put our faith in, and what do we lead others to put faith in? Praise God for faithful churches, and praise God for faithful ministers. But, our passage leaves us with the clear message that if people come away from us thinking, “what a great church!” or “what a great minister!” then we have not truly achieved our aim. Rather, we should desire that they come away thinking, “What a great God!” and “What a great Savior!” and “What a great salvation!”

Paul is still encouraging them to embrace their ordinariness—to embrace their unimpressiveness. Not only does this ensure that all the glory goes to God (as we learned in the previous passage), but it also redirects people’s faith.

How we present ourselves to those to whom we minister is, in the economy of God’s providence, a significant factor in determining upon what they come to depend. Will they end up with faith in the wisdom (or, perhaps thoughtfulness or goodness or togetherness, or ?) of men? Or will they end up with faith in the power of God?

Paul didn’t preach cleverly assembled sermons full of catchy turns of phrase. He preached plain doctrine about how God became man to save, and did so not by being impressive but rather by being executed. 

In fact, he preached such sermons that one would say, “Come on Paul… it would take a miracle from God for that sermon to bring someone to faith!” 

And that is exactly the point, isn’t it? Paul came and preached plainly about Jesus so that when the people believed, all would know for sure, “This can be a demonstration only of the Spirit and power of God!”

Isn’t this what we want most, when we witness, or when we have others preach and teach to us: not that there would be a great presentation that gives us a memorable encounter with men, but instead that there would be a plain gospel presentation, that Christ would be clearly seen, and that there would be a glorious encounter with God. Let us so act and so speak as to have this as our great aim!

(1 Corinthians 2:6-16). Here is the most glorious thing that we can know, and about the only way that we can know it. Sometimes, I have heard people take 1 Corinthians 2:9 to mean something like when 1 John 3:2 says, “It has not been revealed what we shall be”—that is, about some future glory. But that most certainly is not the case here. Rather, the Holy Spirit is saying here that what the rulers of this age did not know is that God had prepared to give Himself, the Lord of glory, for those who love Him.

This is the extraordinary that eye hadn’t seen, ear heard, nor heart considered. No, God had kept the details of this glorious gospel gift hidden from the eyes and ears and minds of men.

This is the most glorious thing that we can know. The Lord of glory has given Himself for sinners! Even with the access and instruction that we have, we do not really wrap our minds around this: the Lord of glory was crucified for me! For this, we must have the active working of the Holy Spirit.

When we say that “the only way we can know” this amazing gospel truth is by the work of the Spirit, we mean more than just that the Spirit has to come up with the words. 

Certainly that is true, which is what 1 Corinthians 2:10-12 are all about. ONLY the Spirit knows the things of God. ONLY THROUGH the Spirit has God revealed the truth to us. And the greatest part of that truth, the heart of that truth, is “the things that have been freely given to us by God.” Behold how good and generous is our God that the height of the revelation of His glory would be how He has given Himself for us!

But just as the work of the Spirit is the only way that we could have had the Scriptures, so also the work of the Spirit is the only way that we can come to believe them. The natural man does not receive them. Rather, the Scriptures are spiritual for spiritual (how 1 Corinthians 2:13 literally ends): Holy-Spirit-given words for Holy-Spirit-helped people.

And how does the Holy Spirit help us? By giving to us that which is Christ’s. Not only Christ’s words, as promised in John 16, but also even Christ’s mind, as we see here in 1 Corinthians 2:16! The Lord gave Himself for us once for all at Calvary, and He continually gives Himself to us by the working of His Holy Spirit. Praise the Lord!

How can you be presenting Jesus more plainly and yourself less impressively to others? How does your habit/practice of Bible reading reflect the necessity of the Spirit’s work in it?

Sample prayer:  Lord, thank You for giving Yourself to us in the Son, to Whom You have united us, and the Spirit, by Whom You have indwelt us. Give us to know Your mind, that we may glorify You and enjoy You as Your children, we ask through Christ, AMEN!

Suggested songs: ARP24 “The Earth and the Riches” or TPH297 “Lift Up Your Heads, Ye Mighty Gates”

2021.12.17 Hopewell @Home ▫ 1 Corinthians 15:50-58

Read 1 Corinthians 15:50-58

Questions from the Scripture text: What does Paul call them in 1 Corinthians 15:50? What cannot inherit the kingdom of God? What kind of flesh cannot inherit an incorruptible creation? What hidden truth does the apostle now reveal (1 Corinthians 15:51)? What shall we not all do? But what shall we all do? How long does this change take (1 Corinthians 15:52)? When? What must corruptible flesh put on instead (1 Corinthians 15:53)? What must mortal flesh put on instead? What will this transformation bring to pass (1 Corinthians 15:54)? What does death no longer have (1 Corinthians 15:55)? What does Hades, the grave, no longer have? What is the sting of death (1 Corinthians 15:56)? What especially empowers sin to hurt us in death? Who has done something about this (1 Corinthians 15:57)? What does God give us? Through whom? What work is a display of this victory in our lives (1 Corinthians 15:58)? What does the apostle call them now? What does he command them to be? What do we know that our labor is not? In Whom is our labor not vain?

In this passage, we learn a strong connection between our hope at being raised bodily from the dead and our daily lives now in this world.

First, this hope is for every believer. It is something that we are so united in that not only will each of us surely be raised physically from the dead, but we will all be transformed at the same time. And we will all be raised and transformed in the very same moment, in the very same twinkle of an eye!

Second, this hope is a great hope. It robs death of its sting. It robs Hades of its victory.

Third, this hope is a merciful hope. The entire reason that death is so horrible, and that sin is so culpable, is that we deserve death for having broken God’s law.

Fourth, this hope is righteous hope. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, God has given us victory over sin, without violating but rather by keeping the righteous requirement of the law (that we be punished for breaking it!)

Fifth, this hope is an effective hope. Sin can longer have us. Death can no longer keep us. Now, we belong to the Lord. And, so, the point of the work that we do now is not so much that it lasts forever, but rather that it is in the Lord Himself, that it is a display of His victory. Your labor is not in vain in the Lord!

Whatever it is that we do as believers, let us do it always as those who do not belong to ourselves, those over whom sin is no longer master, those who no longer operate in fear of death—let us live every moment as those who belong to the Lord!

What part of your life feels most like it is “in vain”? How does this passage help?

Suggested songs: ARP1 “How Blessed the Man” or TPH338 “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross”

2021.12.16 Hopewell @Home ▫ 1 Corinthians 15:35-49

Read 1 Corinthians 15:35-49

Questions from the Scripture text: What question does the apostle suggest that someone will ask in 1 Corinthians 15:35? What does the apostle call this person in 1 Corinthians 15:36? What must happen to what is planted, in order for it to be made alive? How does the resulting plant compare to what was put in the ground (1 Corinthians 15:37-41)? To what event does 1 Corinthians 15:42 compare a particular plant being produced by a particular seed? What kind of body is put into the ground? What kind of body comes out of it—what four things do 1 Corinthians 15:42-44 say about the body that is put into the ground? What four things do those verses say about the body that comes out? What did the first Adam become (1 Corinthians 15:45)? What did the last Adam become? From where was the first Adam (1 Corinthians 15:47)? From where is the last Adam? Who is the pattern for what happens to those who are in the first Adam (1 Corinthians 15:48)? Who is the pattern for what happens to those who are in the last Adam? Whose physical image have we borne (1 Corinthians 15:49a)? Whose physical image shall we bear (verse 49b)?

In this passage, we begin with a question that implies an objection that could have been reasonable. “With what body?...” implies the objection, “Have you seen my body, and what happens to it after death? I don’t want that body back!!!” 

Of course not. That zombie stuff is literally what horror stories are made of. But, as the apostle says, it is a foolish objection. For the decline, death, and decay of our bodies all belong to the first Adam. It is what we deserve in him. It is what happened to him. It is what will happen to everyone who is in him. But he is not the pattern for us who believe in Christ!!

No, Christ is the pattern for us. And what happened with Christ? A corruptible, dishonored, weak, natural body went into the tomb. An incorruptible, glorious, powerful body that belongs to a world that is yet to come came out of the tomb.

And it is precisely the fact that we do decline and die and decay that should convince us that our resurrection bodies will be made just like Christ’s. For, if this principle of being physically conformed to our covenant head is what causes our current difficulty in the first Adam, then we are living proof that the principle is valid. Now, let us apply the principle to the last Adam: What has happened to Christ’s body as our covenant Head will happen also to us for His sake! Hallelujah!

With what kind of body will you be raised? Why? What will you experience in it?

Suggested songs: ARP16B “I’ll Bless the Lord” or TPH358 “Sing, Choirs of New Jerusalem”

2021.12.15 Hopewell @Home ▫ 1 Corinthians 15:20-34

Read 1 Corinthians 15:20-34

Questions from the Scripture text: What has Christ done (1 Corinthians 15:20a)? Who became the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep? What came by a man (1 Corinthians 15:21a)? What else came by a man (verse 21b)? What do all who are in Adam do (1 Corinthians 15:22a)? What happens to all who are in Christ (verse 22b)? When is the resurrection of those who are Christ’s (1 Corinthians 15:23)? What comes then (1 Corinthians 15:24)? To whom does Christ deliver the kingdom? What will Jesus do to all other authorities? What will be the last enemy to be defeated (1 Corinthians 15:26)? Who is putting all things under Jesus’s feet (1 Corinthians 15:27)? Who, then, is not put under Jesus’s feet? To whom will Jesus be subject (1 Corinthians 15:28)? By even what people was the resurrection of the dead believed (1 Corinthians 15:29)? And what were the apostles willing to do because of the resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:30)? What did Paul say that he did daily (1 Corinthians 15:31)? What would he do, if the dead are not raised (1 Corinthians 15:32)? What should we be careful not to do with others who think like this (1 Corinthians 15:33)? Whom should we know and think about instead (1 Corinthians 15:34)?

In this passage, Paul makes the final argument for the resurrection: this is how it must all end! God must win at the last (1 Corinthians 15:28). 

The problem is that the first Adam sinned, and in him all died. The fact that we received spiritual death from him is an indisputable fact. We try to hide from it, but every one of us who is honest with ourselves find that it is true that our hearts are deceitful above all things (unknowable) and desperately wicked (unfixable). 

How does this go with the fact that God must win at the last? There is another Adam, the last Adam—Christ. Since by a man came death, by a man resurrection had to come. 

But when? Well, there are more things wrong with the world than just that we are spiritually dead. This sin and death has infected all authority, so that all has to be brought back under Christ’s feet. And even then, there is one more enemy to be defeated: death itself.

Christ’s mission to save us isn’t about us. It’s about God. God is displaying both His love and His power, and at the last He shall reign!

So the resurrection is sure. The question for you and me is, what difference does it make? Well, if you’re into false religion, you baptize for the dead—and how sad would it be if believers were less confident in the resurrection than such cults (1 Corinthians 15:29)?

But the apostle sets us the true example. Be willing to risk much for the Lord (1 Corinthians 15:30). Stop living for this life, and live for eternity instead (1 Corinthians 15:31). Do battle with all that opposes Christ (1 Corinthians 15:32a). Watch out for living for the flesh (verse 32b). Refuse to have as your companions those who live for this life (1 Corinthians 15:33). And have instead, as your constant companion the Lord Himself (1 Corinthians 15:34).

Are you living like someone whose hope is to enjoy yourself as much as possible for as long as possible? Or like someone who knows that you will rise from the dead unto everlasting joy? 

Suggested songs: ARP73C “Yet Constantly, I Am with You” or TPH539 “Am I a Soldier of the Cross”

2021.12.14 Hopewell @Home ▫ 1 Corinthians 15:12-19

Read 1 Corinthians 15:12-19

Questions from the Scripture text: What were some of the Corinthians saying (1 Corinthians 15:12)? But who is preached, that He has been raised from the dead? If there was no resurrection from the dead, then Who would not be risen (1 Corinthians 15:13, repeated in 1 Corinthians 15:16!)? What two things does 1 Corinthians 15:14 say become empty if Christ is not risen (verse 14)? And against whom have the apostles borne false witness, if the dead do not rise (1 Corinthians 15:15)? Again, if Christ is not risen, what 1 Corinthians 15:16 say about our faith? What are we still in, if Christ is not risen (1 Corinthians 15:17)? If Christ is not risen then what happens to all who fall asleep in Him (1 Corinthians 15:18)? What is true about us, if in this life only we have hope in Christ (1 Corinthians 15:19)?

In this passage, we learn yet another shocking error to which some of the Corinthian church was holding. Some of them did not even believe that we would be resurrected from the dead!

Apparently, they thought that they could believe that Jesus was a special case—that He could be raised from the dead, even though no one else can. In our short text, the apostle directly corrects this not once but twice. “But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen” (1 Corinthians 15:13). And “For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen” (1 Corinthians 15:16).

In effect, he’s saying something very similar to what we learned from Hebrews: that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was made truly and fully Man. 

So, 1 Corinthians 15:17 is true in two extremely important ways. (1) If Jesus is not made just like other men, subject to all of the same rules and conditions—except that He is not a sinner—then, He is not qualified to be our Substitute. (2) If Jesus did not in fact rise from the dead, then He has continued under the curse of death, and there has been no visible display and declaration from God that His sacrifice has been accepted for the forgiveness of our sins (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:3-4).

One of the problems that we have in our culture is that we seem to be content without the resurrection. “Rest in Peace” we often say or hear—even about those who have nothing like a credible profession of faith in Jesus Christ!

But even about those who believe in Christ, 1 Corinthians 15:14, 1 Corinthians 15:18, 1 Corinthians 15:19 say that this would be a terrible mistake! If Christ was not raised, then we have not been made right with God. If we will not be raised, then we have not been made right with God. 

Are there advantages for this life in being renewed and learning to love and obey God and one another? Sure there are. But if there is no resurrection, then there has been no forgiveness, and Christians who die would not be “absent from the body and present with Christ” in glory. Rather, if there is no resurrection, then there has been no forgiveness, and Christians who die would be suffering Hell.

As it is, others are most pitiable, because they seek after the “good life” that Asaph coveted in the first 2/3 of Psalm 73, but they will be suddenly and eternally destroyed. If the resurrection were not true, then we indeed would be most pitiable: living a life that builds for and anticipates everlasting joy, only to find that at last Hell opens its mouth to swallow us in eternal suffering.

Thinking about your own heart: how often do you think about Christ’s resurrection? How much does it mean to you? Why or why not? What would help you think more often about Him being resurrected and alive and returning soon? What has He given in the life of the church to stir us up to think about these things more frequently? How often do you think about your own bodily resurrection? How important is it to you? How can you see it making a difference in your choices?

Suggested songs: ARP72B “Nomads Will Bow” or TPH358 “Sing, Choirs of New Jerusalem”

2021.12.13 Hopewell @Home ▫ 1 Corinthians 15:1-11

Read 1 Corinthians 15:1-11

Questions from the Scripture text: What is Paul declaring to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 15:1? What did he preach? What had they received? In what did they stand? By what are they saved (1 Corinthians 15:2)? What other kind of faith is there than saving faith (end of verse 2)? What had Paul—first of all—delivered to them (1 Corinthians 15:3)? For what had Christ died? In accordance with what? What was done with Him then (1 Corinthians 15:4a)? But what did He do after He was buried? In accordance with what? By whom was He seen (1 Corinthians 15:5a)? Then by whom (verse 5b)? Then by whom (1 Corinthians 15:6)? After the gathering of over 500, by whom was He seen again (1 Corinthians 15:7)? By how many of the apostles? Who was last (1 Corinthians 15:8)? What does Paul say about the timing of his own becoming an apostle? What does Paul say about his place among the apostles (1 Corinthians 15:9a)? Why (verse 9b)? How did such an one as Paul become an apostle (1 Corinthians 15:10a)? What else did God’s grace enable Paul to do  (verse 10b)? But what is the same, no matter which apostle was preaching it, or which believer was believing it (1 Corinthians 15:11)?

In this week’s epistle reading, we continued upon the theme of the use of the understanding in worship. Now, the apostle addresses us not upon the subject of how the understanding must be used in worship, but rather upon the subject of what it is that we should be understanding, as we think in worship.

What do you think about in worship? That’s a good question, and it needs answering, because 1 Corinthians 15:2 reminds us that there is something that looks like faith but is really empty. What is first of all? What is most important?

Christ. Christ dead for sins. Christ buried. Christ risen again.

Apostolic signs have been a subject for much of this letter, and Paul here clearly makes the case that there are no apostles after him—so that time coming of having a completed Bible, about which 1 Corinthians 15:13 spoke (and which Jesus had promised in John 16) was coming soon.

But the signs of a true apostle were more directly important than confirming the written Word of the apostles. The signs were also confirming the eye-witness of the apostles. The apostles, as well as these more than 500 others, were eye-witnesses of the resurrected Christ.

O, dear Christian, there is nothing so important to us as the resurrected Christ! And to think much of ourselves is directly opposed to humbling ourselves low before Him. By the grace of God alone we have whatever calling or place we find ourselves in. By the grace of God alone may we be faithful in that calling or place.

The most important thing about our place in the church is that, in it, we carry forward the gospel of Christ dead for sins, buried, and risen again!

How do you dwell upon our resurrected Lord? How often? How does it affect your life?

 Suggested songs: ARP72B “Nomads Will Bow” or TPH358 “Sing, Choirs of New Jerusalem”

2021.09.28 Hopewell @Home ▫ 1 Corinthians 13

Read 1 Corinthians 13

Questions from the Scripture text: What kind of authenticating sign would Paul be, if he had tongues signs even more than actually existed, but was missing the love sign (1 Corinthians 13:1)? If he has prophecy, and understands it all completely and believes it, but does not love, what is he (1 Corinthians 13:2)? If he performs great acts of self-sacrifice, what might he still not have? And what will it profit him (1 Corinthians 13:3)? What does love do (1 Corinthians 13:4a)? What does love be (verse 4b)? What two things does love not do (verse 4c-d)? What is love not (verse 4e)? How does love not behave (1 Corinthians 13:5)? What does it not seek? How does it not respond to offenses? What does it not think/calculate? What does love not rejoice in (1 Corinthians 13:6)? What does love rejoice in? What does love bear (1 Corinthians 13:7)? What does love believe? What does love hope? What does love endure? Which of the authenticating signs will never end (1 Corinthians 13:8)? What were currently partial at the time that Paul wrote (1 Corinthians 13:9)? Did God’s revelation remain incomplete? When the completion arrived what happened to partial words of prophecy and knowledge (1 Corinthians 13:10)? How does 1 Corinthians 13:11 describe the age of partial revelation? How does 1 Corinthians 13:12 describe the age of partial revelation? What three things outlast the age of partial revelation (1 Corinthians 13:13)? Which is the greatest of the three?

Next week’s Call to Worship, Prayer for Help, and Song of Adoration all come from 1 Corinthians 13, so that we will see that we are singing God’s thoughts after Him with If I Speak a Foreign Tongue. 

In chapter 12, the apostle had taught that the God’s Word was authenticated by gifts to display that it was the Lord Himself who was not only working faith in individual believers, but arranging them as members of the body, and making each a necessary and effective instrument of God in the lives of the other members of the congregation.

This focus on the Word is why prophecy in a known tongue is going to get such a hearty recommendation in chapter 14. The Word is what God especially uses to build us up. But here, in chapter 13, the focus is upon what the fruit looks like in a believer’s life, when he is being built up. Even during the age when the Spirit was giving new revelation, the authenticating signs that accompanied it did not compare with love. 

Love is the everlasting fruit of the Lord’s redemption and the Lord’s redeeming Word. Love was not only a sign that the effective Word was being spoken; it was a sign that the authentic Word had already begun to take its effect. There are other things that we might be tempted to be impressed by (1 Corinthians 13:1-3), but without love to authenticate them, we realize that they’re worthless. 

So, it’s important to know what this love looks like in the lives of believers. After all, one might be shocked by the assertion in 1 Corinthians 13:3 that giving everything for the poor and giving oneself up in sacrifice are not themselves tell-tale signs of genuine Christian love. Those are grand displays, but they are not love’s proving ground. 

No, what shows that love is real, and what shows that grace is real, is found in the condition of the heart and manner of interaction in the everyday nitty-gritty of life: Patience that maintains cheerfulness through the continual provocations of sharing life with sinners (1 Corinthians 13:4a). Kindness that steadily shows thoughtfulness and expresses tenderness (v4a). Gladness at others’ receiving words of praise and desirable possessions (verse 4b). Modesty that isn’t trying to be the one that gets noticed (verse 4c) or admired (verse 4d). This steady ooze of sweetness toward those around you in your everyday life—that’s what the apostle describes as the authenticating stamp of the Holy Spirit’s actually having laid hold of a person.

Now, there is much more that we could say about love in those verses, but that section from the middle of 1 Corinthians 13:5 to the end of 1 Corinthians 13:7 doesn’t get nearly enough consideration. 

Love is most easily identifiable when it is mistreated. How does love react then?

Love is not provoked—love refuses to take offense. It doesn’t calculate wrongs—there’s no keeping of score here. It doesn’t easily notice what ill has been done because it is busy delighting in what has been true. 

Love bears all things—love doesn’t say, “I’ve had it” or “I’m done.” It believes all things—if there’s a possible explanation with a good intention, that’s the one that love chooses to believe. It hopes all things—love doesn’t say, “this will never get better” but rather “it’s worth giving him another chance.” It endures all things—love says, “It’s worth it for me to carry the pain in order to continue in this relationship.”

“NO ONE loves like that, when they are mistreated!!” Exactly. Well, not exactly. And that is why love like this functions as an authenticating sign of the work of the Spirit in a person.

Jesus loved like that perfectly. And His loving is what is counted for us, as if we had done it, when we believe in Him. And because they are being made like Him, real Christians love like this more and more and more. 

The fact that love like this is so rare is why it works as a sign. Here is the authentication of the fact that the Holy Spirit has done real work in someone by His real Word: that person has come to love like 1 Corinthians 13 describes! The age of new revelation and its authenticating signs ended long ago. God has given us everything we need for the faith and hope that remain, but greater than these is the love that will continue even after faith becomes sight and hope has been fulfilled.

What other evidences do you tend to emphasize when thinking about how your Christian life is going? In what aspect of this description of love do you think you most need to grow? Who else (hint: they probably live with you) might be better able to answer this question for you? As you pursue loving more, what comfort do you get from Christ having done so perfectly?

Sample prayer: O God, Who are love in Yourself, we adore Your glory and holiness. How marvelous it is to us that You have chosen us in the Son of Your love, and have brought us into Your own love! Forgive us for how petty, bitter, hard, and mean we often are toward each other in our hearts and even in our interactions. Count Christ’s perfect love for us as if we had done it, and continue working in us to make us like He is, which we ask in His Name, AMEN!

Suggested songs: ARP197 “Christian Unity” or TPH499 “If I Speak a Foreign Tongue”

2021.01.19 Hopewell @Home ▫ 1 Corinthians 15:1–11

Read 1 Corinthians 15:1–11

Questions from the Scripture text: What is Paul declaring to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 15:1? What did he preach? What had they received? In what did they stand? By what are they saved (1 Corinthians 15:2)? What other kind of faith is there than saving faith (end of verse 2)? What had Paul—first of all—delivered to them (1 Corinthians 15:3)? For what had Christ died? In accordance with what? What was done with Him then (1 Corinthians 15:4a)? But what did He do after He was buried? In accordance with what? By whom was He seen (1 Corinthians 15:5a)? Then by whom (verse 5b)? Then by whom (1 Corinthians 15:6)? After the gathering of over 500, by whom was He seen again (1 Corinthians 15:7)? By how many of the apostles? Who was last (1 Corinthians 15:8)? What does Paul say about the timing of his own becoming an apostle? What does Paul say about his place among the apostles (1 Corinthians 15:9a)? Why (verse 9b)? How did such an one as Paul become an apostle (1 Corinthians 15:10a)? What else did God’s grace enable Paul to do  (verse 10b)? But what is the same, no matter which apostle was preaching it, or which believer was believing it (1 Corinthians 15:11)? 

Next week’s Call to Worship, Prayer for Help, Song of Adoration, and Prayer of Confession all come from 1 Corinthians 15:1–11, so that we will see that we are singing God’s thoughts after Him with I Love to Tell the Story.

The apostle has already preached the gospel to them, and they received it, and in fact they are standing in it (1 Corinthians 15:1, 1 Corinthians 15:11). So what does he declare to them now? The gospel again! The rest of their salvation is going to come from this gospel (1 Corinthians 15:2). Christ crucified for sins, buried, risen, and witnessed—all according to the Scriptures (1 Corinthians 15:3-7).

Believers don’t begin in the gospel and then move past it. The gospel is exactly what they need for every part of their growth and for everything through which they go. 

It also keeps the apostle himself thinking rightly. Our flesh would want to boast in what we have done or who we are. But the gospel that is all about who Jesus is and what He has done puts such self-glory in its proper place (which is to get rid of it altogether!). 

Even when identifying himself, for fullness and accuracy, as a witness and an apostle, Paul hurries to point out that he is “like one born out of due time” (1 Corinthians 15:8) and “the least of the apostles” (1 Corinthians 15:9). He names how bad he was (persecutor of the church), and attributes only to the grace of God what He is now (1 Corinthians 15:10).

This is what Paul loves to tell, and this is what the Corinthians should love to hear. Sanctified hearts will never weary of hearing the glorious gospel of Christ! 

From whom do you enjoy hearing the gospel? Whom do you enjoy telling the gospel? In what situations are you too tempted to talk about yourself? How might you work on avoiding doing so?

Suggested songs: ARP98 “O Sing a New Song to the Lord” or TPH438 “I Love to Tell the Story”

2021.01.12 Hopewell @Home ▫ 1 Corinthians 1:26–31

Read 1 Corinthians 1:26–31

Questions from the Scripture text: How many wise according to the flesh are called (1 Corinthians 1:26)? How many mighty are called? How many noble are called? Why has God chosen the foolish things of the world (1 Corinthians 1:27)? Why has God chosen the weak things of the world? Why has God chosen the base things of the world, and the things are despised, and the things which are not (1 Corinthians 1:28)? What does God want no flesh to do in His presence (1 Corinthians 1:29)? How did we come to be in Christ Jesus (1 Corinthians 1:30)? What four things is Christ Jesus for us? In what (whom!) should we glory, instead of ourselves (1 Corinthians 1:31)? 

Next week’s Call to Worship, Prayer for Help, Song of Adoration, and Prayer of Confession all come from 1 Corinthians 1:26–31, so that we will see that we are singing God’s thoughts after Him with Not What My Hands Have Done.

In this passage, God lowers our self-esteem. He reminds us that the world considers us foolish. He reminds us that, humanly speaking, we are weak. We are unimpressive, and of little earthly account.

The sooner that we just admit this about ourselves, the sooner we can get to the (literally) glorious reason for this: so that our only glory will be the Lord Himself! At the end of the day, the more we try to retain some wisdom, strength, goodness, or any other quality worthy of admiring, the less we will admire the Lord alone.

Sadly, many of us have not gotten this message. As individuals, we think that we will be so impressive to our unbelieving friends that they will just want to become Christians on the spot after they meet us! We harbor secret suspicions that if our fellow church members would just be a little more impressive, we’d be able to get more people to stick. Or even worse, we build up an entire array of programs and strategies for looking impressive, and think that it’s actually a good thing when people come and stay for them!

If only we would, more often, take out the 1 Corinthians 1:26–31 mirror and take a good long look and say, “the only thing genuinely impressive about me is Jesus.” If only we would, more often, take out the 1 Corinthians 1:26–31 mirror and take a good long look and say, “the only thing genuinely impressive about our congregation is Jesus—and He is the only thing that can ever be genuinely impressive about us.”

Is Jesus’s glory so small that we think we can add to it, or feel that it needs adding to? Do we think that we do anyone a favor by displaying ourselves, when they could have Christ displayed to them instead? Would it be healthy if they were drawn to us, when they would not have been drawn to Christ?

Here is God, the eternal Son, who has become a man; and, as a man, He has become for us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption! Glory!!! Surely, if one is not moved by this, it matters little if we can get him to think that we are warm, welcoming, and have much to offer him!

May the Lord save us from ourselves and our self-esteem… so that we may have eyes fully open to the glory of Christ, and rejoice in His glory among us!

About what are you tempted to be impressed with yourself or your church? How does this passage remind you to think about it instead? What are you hoping will draw people to Christ? If that is your hope, then how will you go about evangelizing them?

Suggested songs: ARP189 “Universal Praise” or TPH435 “Not What My Hands Have Done”

2020.12.22 Hopewell @Home ▫ 1 Corinthians 2:1–5

Read 1 Corinthians 2:1–5

Questions from the Scripture text: How did Paul not come to them (1 Corinthians 2:1)? What did he come declaring instead? What was he determined not know (1 Corinthians 2:2)? What, alone, was he determined to know? What about Christ did he emphasize? How did Paul present himself before them in 1 Corinthians 2:3? What did his preaching appear to be missing, to some (1 Corinthians 2:4)? But with what did that preaching come? What did this keep them from putting their faith in (1 Corinthians 2:5a)? What did it ensure that they would put their faith in (verse 5b)? 

Next week’s Call to Worship, Prayer for Help, and Confession of Sin come from 1 Corinthians 2:1–5 in order that we will see that we are singing God’s thoughts after Him with All Hail the Power of Jesus’s Name.

In this passage, we are challenged about what we put our faith in, and what we lead others to put our faith in. Praise God for faithful churches, and praise God for faithful ministers. But, our passage leaves us with the clear message that if people come away from us thinking, “what a great church!” or “what a great minister!” then we have not truly achieved our aim. Rather, we should desire that they come away thinking, “What a great God!” and “What a great Savior!” and “What a great salvation!”

Paul is still encouraging them to embrace their ordinariness—to embrace their unimpressiveness. Not only does this ensure that all the glory goes to God (as we learned in last week’s passage), but it also redirects people’s faith.

If the Lord takes us from people, would they say, “Oh no! What shall we do?” Or, have we been determined to know nothing among them except Jesus Christ and Him crucified, so that they can receive a message similar to Joshua chapter 1: “Moses, My servant, is dead. Now, be strong and courageous for [God] is with you.”

How we present ourselves to those to whom we minister is, in the economy of God’s providence, a significant factor in determining upon what they come to depend. Will they end up with faith in the wisdom (or, perhaps thoughtfulness or goodness or togetherness, or ?) of men? Or will they end up with faith in the power of God?

Paul didn’t preach cleverly assembled sermons full of catchy turns of phrase. He preached plain doctrine about how God became man to save, and did so not by being impressive but rather by being executed.

In fact, he preached such sermons that one would say, “Come on Paul… it would take a miracle from God for that sermon to bring someone to faith!”

And that is exactly the point, isn’t it? Paul came and preached plainly about Jesus so that when the people believed, all would know for sure, “This can be a demonstration only of the Spirit and power of God!”

Isn’t this what we want most, when we witness, or when we have others preach and teach to us: not that there would be a great presentation that gives us a memorable encounter with men, but instead that there would be a plain gospel presentation, that Christ would be clearly seen, and that there would be a glorious encounter with God.

Let us so act and so speak as to have this as our great aim!

How can you be presenting Jesus more plainly and yourself less impressively to others?

Suggested songs: ARP189 “Universal Praise” or TPH375 “All Hail the Power of Jesus’s Name”

Assured of Christ's Covenant Benefits and Our Covenant Obligations (2020.11.15 Lord's Supper Table Lesson)

What help is there for believers whose confidence in God's plan for them wanes? The Lord has always given His people signs and seals to shore up their faith in Him and His promises. In showing forth the Lord's death to us, the supper is designed to nourish us upon Him for this strength and to affirm to us His commitment to give us everything for which He died, and renew His call upon us to walk with Him as He has covenanted with us that we should walk.

Reconciliation through Discipline (2020.08.23 Sabbath School)

Because we are reconciled in Christ, we cannot tolerate any sin—and especially sin that separates us. And, when the sin is repented of, we must hasten to reaffirm and strengthen the bonds of affection, lest Satan exploit relational fissures in the church.

2020.05.26 Hopewell @Home ▫ 1 Corinthians 2:1–5

 Read 1 Corinthians 2:1–5 

Questions from the Scripture text: How did Paul not come to them (1 Corinthians 2:1)? What did he come declaring instead? What was he determined not know (1 Corinthians 2:2)? What, alone, was he determined to know? What about Christ did he emphasize? How did Paul present himself before them in 1 Corinthians 2:3? What did his preaching appear to be missing, to some (1 Corinthians 2:4)? But with what did that preaching come? What did this keep them from putting their faith in (1 Corinthians 2:5a)? What did it ensure that they would put their faith in (verse 5b)? 

Next week’s Call to Worship, Prayer for Help, and Confession of Sin come from 1 Corinthians 2:1–5 in order that we will see that we are singing God’s thoughts after Him with All Hail the Power of Jesus’s Name.

In this passage, we are challenged about what we put our faith in, and what we lead others to put our faith in. Praise God for faithful churches, and praise God for faithful ministers. But, our passage leaves us with the clear message that if people come away from us thinking, “what a great church!” or “what a great minister!” then we have not truly achieved our aim. Rather, we should desire that they come away thinking, “What a great God!” and “What a great Savior!” and “What a great salvation!”

Paul is still encouraging them to embrace their ordinariness—to embrace their unimpressiveness. Not only does this ensure that all the glory goes to God (as we learned in last week’s passage), but it also redirects people’s faith.

If the Lord takes us from people, would they say, “Oh no! What shall we do?” Or, have we been determined to know nothing among them except Jesus Christ and Him crucified, so that they can receive a message similar to Joshua chapter 1: “Moses, My servant, is dead. Now, be strong and courageous for [God] is with you.”

How we present ourselves to those to whom we minister is, in the economy of God’s providence, a significant factor in determining upon what they come to depend. Will they end up with faith in the wisdom (or, perhaps thoughtfulness or goodness or togetherness, or ?) of men? Or will they end up with faith in the power of God?

Paul didn’t preach cleverly assembled sermons full of catchy turns of phrase. He preached plain doctrine about how God became man to save, and did so not by being impressive but rather by being executed.

In fact, he preached such sermons that one would say, “Come on, Paul… it would take a miracle from God for that sermon to bring someone to faith!”

And that is exactly the point, isn’t it? Paul came and preached plainly about Jesus so that when the people believed, all would know for sure, “This can be a demonstration only of the Spirit and power of God!”

Isn’t this what we want most, when we witness, or when we have others preach and teach to us: not that there would be a great presentation that gives us a memorable encounter with men, but instead that there would be a plain gospel presentation, that Christ would be clearly seen, and that there would be a glorious encounter with God.

Let us so act and so speak as to have this as our great aim!

How can you be presenting Jesus more plainly and yourself less impressively to others?  

Suggested songs: ARP189 “Universal Praise” or TPH375 “All Hail the Power of Jesus’s Name”

2020.05.12 Hopewell @Home ▫ 1 Corinthians 15:50–58

Read 1 Corinthians 15:50–58

Questions from the Scripture text: What does Paul call them in 1 Corinthians 15:50? What cannot inherit the kingdom of God? What kind of flesh cannot inherit an incorruptible creation? What hidden truth does the apostle now reveal (1 Corinthians 15:51)? What shall we not all do? But what shall we all do? How long does this change take (1 Corinthians 15:52)? When? What must corruptible flesh put on instead (1 Corinthians 15:53)? What must mortal flesh put on instead? What will this transformation bring to pass (1 Corinthians 15:54)? What does death no longer have (1 Corinthians 15:55)? What does Hades, the grave, no longer have? What is the sting of death (1 Corinthians 15:56)? What especially empowers sin to hurt us in death? Who has done something about this (1 Corinthians 15:57)? What does God give us? Through whom? What work is a display of this victory in our lives (1 Corinthians 15:58)? What does the apostle call them now? What does he command them to be? What do we know that our labor is not? In Whom is our labor not vain?

Next week’s Call to Worship, Prayer for Help, and Confession of Sin come from 1 Corinthians 15:50–58, in order that we will see that we are singing God’s thoughts after Him with Thine Be the Glory.

In this passage, we see a strong connection between our hope at being raised bodily from the dead and our daily lives now in this world.

First, this hope is for every believer. It is something that we are so united in that not only will each of us surely be raised physically from the dead, but we will all be transformed at the same time. And we will all be raised and transformed in the very same moment, in the very same twinkle of an eye!

Second, this hope is a great hope. It robs death of its sting. It robs Hades of its victory.

Third, this hope is a merciful hope. The entire reason that death is so horrible, and that sin is so culpable, is that we deserve death for having broken God’s law.

Fourth, this hope is righteous hope. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, God has given us victory over sin, without violating but rather by keeping the righteous requirement of the law (that we be punished for breaking it!)

Fifth, this hope is an effective hope. Sin can longer have us. Death can no longer keep us. Now, we belong to the Lord. And, so, the point of the work that we do now is not so much that it lasts forever, but rather that it is in the Lord Himself, that it is a display of His victory. Your labor is not in vain in the Lord!

Whatever it is that we do as believers, let us do it always as those who do not belong to ourselves, those over whom sin is no longer master, those who no longer operate in fear of death—let us live every moment as those who belong to the Lord!

What part of your life feels most “in vain”? How does this passage give it purpose?

Suggested songs: ARP1 “How Blessed the Man” or TPH365 “Thine Be the Glory”

2020.03.29 Morning Sermon, 1Corinthians 11:17–34 "The Lord's Supper is the Lord's!"

2020.03.30 Hopewell @Home ▫ 1 Corinthians 11:17–34

Read 1 Corinthians 11:17–34

Questions from the Scripture text: Was the Corinthians’ coming together making it better or worse (1 Corinthians 11:17)? What was the first reason that coming together for church was actually hurting them instead of helping them (1 Corinthians 11:18)? What is one reason that God allows these divisions—these factions—in the church (1 Corinthians 11:19)? Whose Supper, then, were they not eating (1 Corinthians 11:20)? Because whose supper were each of them taking (1 Corinthians 11:21)? From whom did Paul receive these instructions about the Supper (1 Corinthians 11:23)? What did Jesus take on the night He was betrayed (verse 23)? When He gave thanks, what did He do with it (1 Corinthians 11:24)? What did He say? When did He take up the cup (1 Corinthians 11:25)? What did He say about it? What do eating the bread and drinking the cup proclaim (show forth) (1 Corinthians 11:26)? And for how long? If someone eats or drinks in the wrong way (“an unworthy manner”) of what are they guilty (1 Corinthians 11:27)? What is someone to do about the way he takes the Lord’s Supper (1 Corinthians 11:28)? What happens to us if we are wrong about that (1 Corinthians 11:29)? What was happening to them because they were taking wrong (1 Corinthians 11:30-32)? What should we do at the Lord’s Supper, when we come together to eat (1 Corinthians 11:33)? If we are hungry for food, what are we to do (1 Corinthians 11:34)? 

In the sermon yesterday, we heard that Jesus is the primary Actor in the Lord’s Supper. He commanded it. He tells us the manner in which to take it. He gives Himself to us in it. He binds Himself to us in it. He binds us to Himself in it. It is a corporate meal that is all about Him, as He feeds His covenant body, the church.

By each taking on their own, the Corinthians exposed that they were ignorant of both what the meal is and also of whom the meal is for. The meal is not bread and wine, but Christ and His covenant. Of the bread, Jesus says “this is My body.” Of the cup, Jesus says “this cup is the New Covenant in My blood.”

And for whom did Jesus give Himself? Not merely for individuals separately so much as for His bride, who is now His corporate body—bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh (cf. Ephesians 5:25–32). And with whom has Jesus made the New Covenant—or, better put, with whom has God made the New Covenant in Christ? Not merely with individuals separately so much as with His covenant people.

If we come to the table and focus upon ourselves, this passage says that we despise His church, shame those whom we are not careful to have partake with us, and even that we are guilty of the body and blood of the Lord!

It is a horrendous thing to focus on ourselves at the table. And so, the culminating procedural command in 1 Corinthians 11:33 addresses the procedural symptom from 1 Corinthians 11:21 that showed that the church in Corinth wasn’t getting this.

But we, too, can do this if when we come we are so focused on a personal, mystical experience that we are not eagerly expecting and enjoying the rest of the body’s feeding upon Christ. We, too, can do this if when we come we are more impressed by how needy we are than by how sufficient Christ is for that need.

So, when we come to the Table, let us do so, rejoicing over what Christ is doing there, and rejoicing that He is doing it for His corporate, covenant people. Let us not each take our own meal, but rather take together, waiting for one another—eagerly expecting and enjoying our brothers’ and sisters’ taking, too!

What do you plan to focus on, to become more biblical in how you take the Lord’s Supper?

Suggested Songs: ARP191 “I Love the Lord” or TPH201 “Twas on That Night, When Doomed to Know”