How the Holy Spirit Used Covenant Theology to Forge Peace in the Church [2022.10.30 Morning sermon in Acts 15:18–35]

The Holy Spirit Who planned redemption from all eternity as God, prophesied that redemption in Scripture, and now pursues that redemption by applying Christ and His mind to men in the church. Peace comes from submission to and participation with the Spirit—by the Spirit's own grace.

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Biblical Theology of the Diaconate (9): Joseph's Diaconal Ministry and the Beginnings of God's Israel [2022.10.30 Sabbath School]

As He brought Israel to its national/ecclesiastical beginnings, the Lord used blessing in material things, service in material things, and stewardship of material things to distinguish the people Who know Him and His grace.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

Theology Simply Explained — WSC59, Which Day Is the Lord's [Sabbath] Day

Pastor walks his children through Westminster Shorter Catechism question 59—especially explaining how the “when” question is really a “Who” question since in a very real way the Lord Himself is the Sabbath, and believers are dependent upon His timing for His consecration of it and His blessing it.

WSC59: Which day of the seven hath God appointed to be the weekly sabbath? Which day of the seven hath God appointed to be the weekly sabbath? From the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ, God appointed the seventh day of the week to be the weekly sabbath; and the first day of the week ever since, to continue to the end of the world, which is the Christian sabbath. (click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

The Fount from Whom Every Blessing Flows [Family Worship lesson in Genesis 26:12–22]

Where do material and spiritual fruitfulness come from? Genesis 26:12–22 looks forward to the opening portion of morning public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these eleven verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that the Lord from Whom every material blessing comes is the Lord from Whom the greater spiritual blessings come as well. (click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

2022.11.01 Hopewell @Home ▫ Genesis 26:12–22

Read Genesis 26:12–22

Questions from the Scripture text: What did Isaac do in Genesis 26:12? How much did he reap? How did this happen? Of what was this the beginning (Genesis 26:13)? To what extent did it continue? What did he have (Genesis 26:14)? How did the Philistines feel about this? What did they do in Genesis 26:15? What did Abimelech say and do to Isaac in Genesis 26:16? Where did Isaac go in Genesis 26:17? What did he do in Genesis 26:18? What else in Genesis 26:19? Who quarreled over these wells (Genesis 26:20)? What does he call the well in response (verse 20)? What does he do in Genesis 26:21? What do they do? What does he call the well in response? What does he do in Genesis 26:22? What does he call this new well? Why? Whom does he recognize as doing what for him?

Where do material and spiritual fruitfulness come from? Genesis 26:12–22 looks forward to the opening portion of morning public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these eleven verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that the Lord from Whom every material blessing comes is the Lord from Whom the greater spiritual blessings come as well.  

Although Isaac had given much evidence of his remaining sin, the Lord was merciful and faithful to prosper him both materially and spiritually.

We’re usually less keen to see spiritual fruitfulness, so the Holy Spirit sharpens our vision by how extraordinary is the material fruitfulness. When Jesus teaches the parable of the soils, “a hundredfold” represents maximum-imaginable-fruitfulness (cf. Matthew 13:8). 

Notable material blessing, notably from the Lord. This would be a remarkable crop by anyone and at any time. But it isn’t by anyone; it’s by a man who up until that time had focused primarily upon livestock. And it isn’t any time; it’s in the midst of a famine (cf. Genesis 26:1). 

This is, apparently, how these crops went far beyond feeding his clan and his herds and flocks, to enabling him to procure the great wealth described in Genesis 26:13-14. Considering that wealthy Abraham (Genesis 24:35) had left Isaac all that he had (Genesis 24:36, Genesis 25:5), the fact that this crop-during-famine takes Isaac to an even greater level of prosperity tells us that he is now extremely wealthy indeed!

Notable spiritual blessing, notably from the Lord. Thus, by Isaac’s material fruitfulness, we are enabled to see the greatness of the spiritual fruit as well. 

He is content to walk by faith in the steps of his father, Abraham (cf. Genesis 26:18). And, surely his water needs were very great during this famine. 

He is peaceable and generous, even with neighbors who hate him (cf. Genesis 26:27). At great cost to himself, he gave up well after well that he had dug again. If he was too mighty for Gerar itself (Genesis 26:16), certainly he was too mighty for its herdsmen (Genesis 26:20), and could have retained the wells by force.

But we see what enabled him to value and pursue peace so much—he trusted that it was Yahweh who was making room for him, Genesis 26:22. What a turnaround from the lack of faith that led to fear that led to lying that brought an entire nation under the threat of God, in Genesis 26:6-10! 

Just as with the crop fields, there is only one valid explanation for the spiritual fruitfulness: undeserved grace from God! 

For us as well, all of our material fruitfulness comes by grace and mercy. 

For us as well, all of our spiritual fruitfulness comes by grace and mercy.

What troubles/attacks are you under? What life-long experience since the womb does this continue? What habits and practices in your life show a right response? How long should this continue?

Sample prayer:  Lord, You have given us all our material blessing: home, food, water, clothing, safety, and community are all good and perfect gifts which come down from You, our Father of lights. And even more, You have given us whatever spiritual blessings we have: if faith, contentment, being peaceable, generous, diligent, forgiving—it all comes from You. Now give us the blessing of hearts that do not wander from You, but which rejoice over You. Make us to look to You for every blessing, binding our hearts to You, and tuning our hearts to sing Your grace in Christ, in Whose Name we ask it, AMEN!

Suggested songs: ARP65B “The Far and Distant Peoples” or TPH429 “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing”

2022.10.31 Hopewell @Home ▫ Exodus 20:4–6

Read Exodus 20:4–6

Questions from the Scripture text: What must a man not make (Exodus 20:4)? What else from what three places? For which two purposes is the making or use of such things prohibited (Exodus 20:5)? Why—what does God say about Himself? What will He visit upon whom? To how many generations? What does He call such people? But to whom will He do what (Exodus 20:6)? What two things does He call those who keep this commandment?

By what method is God to be worshiped? Exodus 20:4–6 looks forward to the devotional in the midweek prayer meeting. In these three verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that God is to be worshiped only by the method of His devising, not man’s.

The one devising the worship is the one being worshiped. God won’t share His worship with the image of any creation of ours (Exodus 20:4a) or any creation of His (verse 4b). He has chosen for us a “how” of worship that preserves for us the “Whom” of worship. If we worship in our own way, then in reality we worship ourselves. If we worship in a way that imitates anything in all creation, then we worship the creature rather than the Creator.

Of course, our remaining sinfulness willfully resists the truth that adding anything of our own to God’s worship fundamentally changes not just the nature of our worship but the actual object of Whom it is that we are worshiping. Our remaining fleshliness wants to think that it’s no big deal and that worship should be in a way that pleases us.

Choosing another way of worship, and therefore to worship another, is to hate God. So God puts the infinite evil of creaturely worship in no uncertain terms. He calls those who worship their way instead of His way “those who hate Me.” If we say that’s overstating it, we just show how different our judgment is from His and that we need this commandment even more than we think we did. 

For the ultimate way of knowing and worshiping God is in the Lord Jesus Himself. The way that God gave them to worship before the coming of Christ was all by ways that showed forth Christ. The way that God has given us to worship after His coming, is by ways that are led by Christ Himself from heaven. To come to worship God in any other way, is to come in a way other than Christ.

O the glory that belongs to us, whom God has called to Himself, and whom God has given His true worship. We have God Himself! And we have Him in Christ! And if we set that aside for something else—something inevitably and infinitely less—we hate Him Whom we have and choose instead a version of Him that we would prefer.

The devastating consequences of man-designed worship. To this strong description, God adds a strong consequence: visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth. A father is without God to the very extent that he worships falsely. And a father without God will have the grief of watching his children grow up to be without God too. 

The children’s self-desired and self-designed worship will blossom into worse and worse worship and even the full apostasy of turning from the Lord altogether. They come to know less and less of the true God and get caught up in superstition (atheism by attaching meaning to religiosity instead of God Himself by His truth), sentimentalism (atheism by attaching feelings to religiosity instead of God Himself by His truth), or just plain atheism. 

Remember—this warning against idolatry was to believers! And it was a personal warning. The very God Whom they claim to worship will personally inflict this penalty upon them and their children.

The inestimable benefit of Lord-designed worship. And yet, the opposite is true to an even greater extent. If the negative consequences of sin in purity of worship are by a factor of three or four, then the positive consequences of faithfulness in purity of worship are by a factor of a thousand! 

Right worship—which the Lord here describes as loving Him and keeping His commandments—is a means by which (and in response to which) the Lord shows covenanted, redeeming love even unto a thousand generations. 

How awful for so much of the “Christian” world to be fighting over one sort of manmade worship versus another sort of manmade worship, when all worship complications—old or new—put us on the wrong side of this commandment. The Lord grant His church to return to the purity and simplicity of worship that seeks God alone in His way alone!

What are some ways that man has added to God’s worship over the centuries? What are some ways that man is adding to God’s worship now? Why is it such a big deal? What does this commandment tell us that we can expect to keep happening, if they keep doing this? What can we expect, if we stop? 

Sample prayer:  Lord, You are truly merciful to have created us to know You and worship You! Forgive us for when we are so foolish as to invent our own ways of knowing or worshiping—for then it is not You that we know or worship. So grant us the help of Your Spirit that we would know You truly in Christ, through Whom we ask it, AMEN!

Suggested songs: ARP16A “Keep Me, O God” or TPH174 “The Ten Commandments”

Following the Spirit's Lead to Peace in the Church [Family Worship lesson in Acts 15:18–35]

Who deliver the judgments of the church? Acts 15:23–35 looks forward to the morning sermon on the coming Lord’s Day. In these thirteen verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that while it is preachers who deliver judgments from synods, and exhort, and strengthen, and teach, and preach, yet ultimately it is the Holy Spirit Who is doing all these things in the church. (click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

2022.10.29 Hopewell @Home ▫ Acts 15:23–35

Read Acts 15:23–35

Questions from the Scripture text: What did the assembly write (Acts 15:23)? By whom did they send it (cf. Acts 15:22)? From whom did they write it? To whom? Where? How did it start? What was the occasion of the letter—what had some done (Acts 15:24)? With what effect on their souls? Saying what? Even though what had not been done? How had the letter been decided upon (Acts 15:25)? With what type of men is it being sent? With whom? What have Barnabas and Paul done (Acts 15:26)? For What? Which chosen men are being sent (Acts 15:27)? What will they do? Who, ultimately, has given this judgment (Acts 15:28)? Through whom? What has He determined to do? What things are laid upon them? From what four things must they abstain (Acts 15:29)? With what benefit if they do? How does the letter close? What is done to the four men in Acts 15:30? To where do they come? Whom do they gather? What do they deliver? How does the multitude respond (Acts 15:31)? What do we learn about Judas and Silas in Acts 15:32? As preachers, what do they do to the brethren? With what? What do they do for how long (Acts 15:33)? Then what is done with them? What do they bring back? From whom to whom? But who doesn’t wish to go (Acts 15:34)? Who also remain (Acts 15:35)? Doing what two things? With whom else?

Who deliver the judgments of the church? Acts 15:23–35 looks forward to the morning sermon on the coming Lord’s Day. In these thirteen verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that while it is preachers who deliver judgments from synods, and exhort, and strengthen, and teach, and preach, yet ultimately it is the Holy Spirit Who is doing all these things in the church. 

This passage relates the writing, delivery, and reception of the decision of the first general synod. 

The writing of the letter. The letter itself communicates the brotherhood of the entire church under Christ and the Spirit. Although the decision was made by the assembly of apostles and elders, the whole church has concurred (Acts 15:22), and now the letter identifies itself as being from “the brethren” (Acts 15:23) as much as from the apostles and elders. It is important for the members of the congregations in Antioch to know that this brotherly view of them has not just been “decided by the leadership” but embraced by the whole household of God.

This brother-recognition is even more strongly stated in identifying the letter’s addressees as “the brethren who are of the Gentiles in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia.” All of the members of these churches are, of course, brethren. But the letter singles out the Gentiles as equally members of the family of God as the apostles themselves. They are demonstrating that the decision in the letter is not a concession for second-class Christians, but an acknowledgement that they have faith that is of the same status (cf. 2 Peter 1:1). 

By calling them “brethren,” the apostles and elders place themselves on a level not just with believers in Antioch but specifically with Gentile believers. This sends a strong message in light of the fact that this was all made necessary by those who had come from Jerusalem and “troubled them with words, unsettling their souls” (Acts 15:24). 

The letter relates, as we saw in Acts 15:20, that they are to refrain especially from those things that participate in the idolatry of their Gentile neighbors and breaking of the Noahic covenant (Acts 15:29). The order is slightly different here, but the big addition is that in doing this they will “practice [what is] good.” This is not a burden being laid upon them (Acts 15:28) but an invitation to the service of Christ. 

Finally, notice the phrase at the beginning of Acts 15:28, “it seemed good to the Holy Spirit.” It’s not that Paul and Barnabas won an argument, or even that a particular position won the day, but that the Holy Spirit has led His church into the truth. He brings them to the conclusion that is consistent with the rest of the Scriptures that He has produced (cf. 1 Peter 1:11; 2 Peter 1:20–21).  

This means something frightful for assemblies where the Scriptures are not faithfully adhered to: rather than men serving under the power of the Spirit, men in those assemblies have themselves taken the reigns instead of the Spirit. But it means something wonderful for those congregations and presbyteries who follow the biblical prescription for Synods: what they are aiming to do is to be ruled and led by the Spirit.

The delivery of the letter. The delivery of the letter is a vital part of the Jerusalem church’s affirmation of the joint council with Paul and Barnabas and others from the northern church. As they say in Acts 15:24, the troublers had gone out unbidden and against Paul and Barnabas (cf. Acts 15:2). Now, instead of being unbidden, Judas and Silas are “chosen,” which the letter itself emphasizes in Acts 15:25. And instead of opposing Barnabas and Paul, thy are “with” Barnabas and Paul.

Furthermore, the assembly heaps affection and admiration upon Barnabas and Paul. First, affection: they call Barnabas and Paul “beloved.” Then, admiration: “men who have risked their lives for the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” This means much to the church in Jerusalem, where many had been martyred. It gives them a kinship with Barnabas and Paul and admiration for them.

Carrying such a letter, Judas and Silas “will also report the same things by word of mouth.” The word for “report” is built on the word for “angel” or “messenger.” They will be able to see the sincerity of the letter in Judas and Silas’s manner with Barnabas and Paul, and in Judas and Silas’s countenance toward the Gentile believers in Antioch. As Judas and Silas read the letter, the gathering in Antioch can study them and know that this is true.

The reception of the letter. The delegation from Jerusalem arrives in Antioch, gathers the multitude together, and delivers the letter (Acts 15:30). Now the multitude rejoices over its encouragement, and Judas and Silas add their own encouragement (“exhorted” in Acts 15:32 is the verb form of the noun in Acts 15:31). Not only have they gladdened them in verse 31, but now they strengthen them as well (Acts 15:33). 

By what means do they strengthen them? By means of “many words.” As “prophets also” their ministry, like that of Paul and Barnabas is “reaching and preaching the word of the Lord.” Christian ministry is first and foremost a ministry of the Word. 

So they minister the Word long enough among them that they can now speak on behalf of the Antioch church, and are sent back to the apostles with greetings. The synod, its decision, its letter, and its mission have had the intended effect; there is peace and purity in the church!

How is your church participating in the Spirit’s leading His church by way of synods? What are some of the theological questions before your synod? Whom do you pray is leading them? What do you pray will be the outcome? Besides the actual decisions, how may this be accomplished?

Sample prayer:  Lord, thank You for giving Your church both peace and purity. Thank You for the gift of Your Holy Spirit, and how He helps and uses the men whom You call and gift for the eldership. Please sustain our elders by Your grace, and grant that our synod would stick to Your Word. Grant that the way decisions are delivered and received would gladden and strengthen Christ’s people, we ask in His Name, AMEN!

Suggested songs: ARP197 “Christian Unity” or TPH409 “Blest Be the Tie That Binds”

Praising Our Strength and Help from the Womb through Eternity [Family Worship lesson in Psalm 71:1–13]

How do older believers pray when under serious threat and attack? Psalm 71:1–13 looks forward to the opening portion of morning public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these thirteen verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that those who have learned, by both doctrine and experience, that the Lord is their strong refuge resort to Him all the more in old age.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

A Crowning Achievement of God's Gospel: Christ Succeeded Where the Law Couldn't [2022.10.26 Midweek sermon in Romans 3:27–31]

The faith, by which alone we can be justified, is also the only way that genuine law-keeping is ever produced.

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