2019.11.01 Hopewell @Home ▫ John 20:10-18

Read John 20:10-18

Questions from the Scripture text: Where did the disciples go in John 20:10? What did Mary do (John 20:11a)? What did she do while she was weeping (verse 11b, cf. John 20:5)? Whom did she see in John 20:12? What did they ask her (John 20:13a)? What did she think had happened to the Lord’s body? What didn’t she know in verse 13? What does she do after saying this (John 20:14a)? Whom does she see? What doesn’t she know now in this verse? Who asks her about her weeping now (John 20:15)? What additional question does He add? Whom did she think Him to be? How does she answer His question? With what one word does He reply (John 20:16)? Now what does she suddenly know—how does she respond in turn? What does Jesus now tell her not to do (John 20:17)? What has He not yet done? Before He does so, for whom does He have a message? How does He decide to send them the message? What is the message?

The disciples go back to their homes literally to “their own”—wherever they have been staying in Jerusalem. Mary, however, is aching for the presence of her Lord. Weeping, she looks into the tomb as John had done. The angels, like the risen Lord after them, ask her why she is weeping. To both, she answers with her desire to know where the Lord’s body is.

It is interesting that she doesn’t recognize the Lord from His appearance, or even from His voice in His original question to her. She recognizes Him in His knowing her. Indeed, this has often been the experience of Christ’s people. We especially come to know Him as we recognize that He knows us and is personally interested in and involved in our lives.

Apparently, Mary is so overjoyed at having found the Lord that she clings (literally, “fastens onto”) to Him. Certainly, there was nothing wrong with touching Him (cf. John 20:27, Matthew 28:9). But, as our Lord redirects her from clinging to Him to a different task that He has for her, we can understand His meaning. He has other things for her to do right now, before He ascends, because He still must meet with His apostles and prepare them.

Jesus, here, mentions His ascension twice. As we have seen over the last several chapters, He has been telling His disciples that His going to the Father is necessary so that He may pour out His Spirit upon them for their work. Our Lord knows us, and has fellowship with us, but He insists that in our fellowship with Him we do not hinder ourselves from serving Him.

And what a fellowship it is! He has brought us into His Sonship. His Father is our Father. Even in His resurrection, He has taken on our humanity. Our God is His God. Our fellowship is not in clinging to Him, but in that glorious eternal union with Himself that He has given us, and in which we are to serve Him until our work here is done.

How do you enjoy your fellowship with Jesus? How are you serving Him?

Suggested songs: ARP110B “The Lord Has Spoken” or TPH358 “Sing, Choirs of New Jerusalem”

2019.10.31 Hopewell @Home ▫ Galatians 3:23-26

Read Galatians 3:23-26

Questions from the Scripture text: Before faith (here meaning “the One believed in”) came, what kept the believers under guard (Galatians 3:23)? For what were the believers being kept? What is the law called in Galatians 3:24? To Whom was it making sure to bring us? How must one be justified, who comes to Him? Now that the One believed in has come, what are believers no longer under (Galatians 3:25)? What are the people in Galatians 3:26 called? How did they come into this status?

Last week, in Galatians 3:19-22, we learned that the law (the Mosaic administration) was necessary because of  transgressions, but that it could not deliver us from those transgressions. That’s what it couldn’t do. So what’s the one thing that it did do? We learn in Galatians 3:23, the Mosaic administration “kept us under guard” until the time that “the faith” (the one in Whom we believe—Jesus!) would “afterward be revealed.”

The word translated “tutor” here helps us understand the role that the Mosaic covenant played in the history of the covenant of grace. The “tutor” was a teacher and guardian, assigned to an heir, to teach and prepare him for the day that he would come into his inheritance. He was already guaranteed that inheritance, of course. But, he was given a tutor for his own help, so that he might learn more about who he is, what his inheritance is, and how to conduct himself once he had come into it.

The Mosaic administration did all these things. It kept believers mindful of their sin (reminding them who they are), but also held before them the reality of the covenant of grace and God’s determination to set apart to Himself a people to whom He would be committed (also reminding them who they are!). The Mosaic administration also described for them what Christ’s perfect obedience would look like (especially by the moral law) and what Christ’s sacrifice would look like (especially by the ceremonial law). Finally, the Mosaic administration presented obedience not in the context of “how to get saved” but rather as instructions for “how the saved behave” (cf. Exodus 20:2).

With the “tutor’s” help in pointing forward to Jesus, being made right with God has always been by believing—even before the believed-in-one (“the faith” in Galatians 3:23, Galatians 3:25) came. But, now that Jesus is here, there is no reason to continue the Mosaic administration. Christ’s moral law, of course, remains the same. It has never been how we were made right with God or qualified to inherit. And, now, it doesn’t even have that role of pointing us forward to Jesus. He Himself has come, and He has given us better things that point back to His finished work on earth and point us up to Him Himself in glory.

What this passage is warning against is coming to the Old Testament in a way that forgets that Jesus has come. It’s His book, and we must read it as those who have Him as our righteousness, and Him as our blessing, and are employing His book to whatever extent it helps us to know Him and serve Him better—and never to supplement what Christ has done. What did the Mosaic administration teach in its time? The same thing that the New Testament teaches us now: trust only in Jesus!

What do you do, that you are tempted to think improves your standing with God?

Suggested songs: ARP32AB “What Blessedness” or TPH435 “Not What My Hands Have Done”

2019.10.30 Hopewell @Home ▫ Ruth 1:1-5

Read Ruth 1:1-5

Questions from the Scripture text: In what days does this take place (Ruth 1:1)? What happened in the land? From what tribe does the man go out? Where does he go to dwell? Whom does he take with him? What was the man’s name (Ruth 1:2)? What was his wife’s name? What were his sons’ names? What was another name for Bethlehem (cf. Genesis 35:19)? What is repeated for a second time at the end of verse 2? What happens to Elimelech in Ruth 1:3? What happens to Naomi? To whom else does this happen? From among whom do Mahlon and Chilion take wives (Ruth 1:4)? What were the wives’ names? How long did they dwell there? What happens to the sons in Ruth 1:5? By whom now has she been “left”?

Naomi’s name means “pleasant,” but the opening verses of Ruth present to us a bitterness (“Mara”) upon which much grace must be poured before she is “Naomi” again.

Political bitterness. Judges 21:25 tells us that these were the days when “there was no king in Israel,” and everyone did what was right in his own eyes. This was a time of division among a people, who ought to have been an example to the world of covenant unity.

Spiritual bitterness. “Everyone did what was right in his own eyes” isn’t just disunity from one another. It’s rebellion against God, who was their King, and by whose law ought to have determined “what was right” rather than their eyes. Ironically, Elimelech’s name means “My God is King.”

Economic bitterness. There was a famine in the land. This one is related to the spiritual bitterness, because the fruitfulness of the land was a direct function of covenantal blessing and curse (Cf. many passages such as Deuteronomy 11:13-17).

Social bitterness. Naomi ended up with her husband in the land of Moab—arch enemies of Israel (cf. Judges 3:12-30) and of the Lord (cf. Numbers 21:29 and Numbers 25:1-3). Not only that, but her husband dies. Then, her sons marry Moabite women. Then her sons die. In Ruth 1:3, she and her two sons “were left.” The same verb concludes Ruth 1:5. The passage drives the message home: Naomi is being left by all that she holds dear.

What will the Lord bring out of bitterness? That’s the question that these five verses set up for the rest of the book to answer. For believers, whose lives will have much in them that is bitter, we will rejoice to know the answer!

What bitter circumstances do you have? What was the greatest bitterness ever experienced? What did God bring out of that? What do you already know must come out of every situation?

Suggested Songs: ARP30 “O Lord, I Will Exalt You” or TPH256 “God Moves in a Mysterious Way”

2019.10.29 Hopewell @Home ▫ John 7:37-53

Read John 7:37-53

Questions from the Scripture text:: What day of the feast is this (John 7:37)? Who stands and cries out? Whom does Jesus invite to come to Him? To do what? About whom does Jesus talk in John 7:38? What will happen to that person? About whom was Jesus speaking (John 7:39)? What were people saying about Him in John 7:40-42? What were the people divided over (John 7:43-44)? What did the officers from John 7:32 do in John 7:45? What do the Pharisees ask them? What do the officers answer in John 7:46? What do the Pharisees ask them in John 7:47? What do they ask in John 7:48? What do they say about the entire feast-keeping crowd in John 7:49? Who speaks up in John 7:50? What does he ask in John 7:51? How do they answer him (John 7:52)? What do they give as the reason for not believing in Him? Where does everyone go in John 7:53? 

Next week’s Call to Worship, Prayer for Help, Song of Adoration, and Confession of Sin all come from John 7:37-53. Here, Jesus announces Himself as the water in the wilderness. The Feast of Tabernacles was all about remembering the wilderness period; and a big part of the wilderness period was the miracle of water from the rock when the Israelites thought they would die of thirst.

Now Jesus identifies Himself as that Rock. He not only promises to quench our thirst but to fill us with so much life that it bursts forth from our hearts! Apart from Christ, out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, and blasphemies (Matthew 15:19). But the Holy Spirit comes along and changes our hearts by filling us with the life of Christ!

We have to choose. Are we going to recognize Jesus as the Prophet greater than Moses (John 7:40, cf. Deuteronomy 18:15ff)? Are we going to recognize that His words are Divine words (John 7:46)? Are we going to listen to what He says and respond to what He does (John 7:51)?

May God save us from unbelief! And, we see in John 7:48-49 one of the main things from which we need saving: self-righteousness. One of the things that God used to enable many in the crowd to believe in Jesus was their thirst. They knew they needed a Savior. They were thirsty. But the Pharisees thought that they were better than the accursed crowd (verses 48-49). If we believe that we are better than others, we must admit instead that we are thirsty and need life from Christ.

What time in your life can you remember, when you felt more sharply your need of Jesus? How does remembering that time help you trust in Him? 

Suggested songs: ARP32AB “What Blessedness” or TPH459 “My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less”

2019.10.29 Hopewell @Home ▫ Genesis 20

Read Genesis 20

Questions from the Scripture text: Where does Abraham go in Genesis 20:1? What does he say about his wife (Genesis 20:2)? Who takes her? Whom does God visit in a dream in Genesis 20:3? What does He say to him? What does Abimelech ask him in Genesis 20:4? What do we learn that Sarah has done in Genesis 20:5? What claim does Abimelech make about himself? Who agrees with this claim (Genesis 20:6)? What has God done for Abimelech? What does God command Abimelech to do in Genesis 20:7? What does God call Abraham? What does Abimelech need Abraham to do for him? If Abimelech does not return Sarah, what will happen to whom? When does Abimelech rise (Genesis 20:8)? Whom does he tell about this? What is their response? Whom does Abimelech call in Genesis 20:9? In what manner does he speak to him (Genesis 20:9-10)? What specific question does he ask? What is Abraham’s (ironic) answer in Genesis 20:11? What excuse does he give in Genesis 20:12? Whom does he blame in Genesis 20:13a? How does he take some of the blame off of Sarah in verse 13b? In addition to returning Sarah, what else does Abimelech give to Abraham (Genesis 20:14)? What invitation does he make in Genesis 20:15? What value does Abimelech assign to what he has given Abraham to restore Sarah’s honor and set her right (Genesis 20:16)? What does Abraham do in Genesis 20:17? What does God do? What had God done (Genesis 20:18)? What does the Scripture call Sarah in verse 18?

Who’s the real king? That’s the question in Genesis 20. Is it Abimelech? The Philistine ruler of Gerar, whose name literally means “my daddy is king”? Or is it Abraham, who in this passage is jumping to conclusions not only about what others are like, but also about how he can be kept safe?

The answer, of course, is that Yahweh is King. He is the One who knows what is going on in Abimelech’s heart (Genesis 20:6), and it is by His grace that the sin of Abimelech’s heart was restrained in the first place! He is the One who has put a baby in Sarah’s womb. He is the One who has closed up the wombs of the Philistines (Genesis 20:18). In other words, Abraham’s fears were completely unfounded, and Abraham’s actions were completely unjustified.

In such a situation, we might expect a righteous King to be punishing Abimelech (who certainly is in danger! ...  Genesis 20:3) and Abraham, who hasn’t learned his lesson from the Pharaoh incident. Instead, God is restraining the sin of Abimelech, and rebuking Abraham through Abimelech, and keeping Sarah safe when her husband didn’t, and blessing Abraham and Sarah with great earthly possessions (Genesis 20:14-15) and a vital spiritual lesson.

But, most of all, the Lord is being gracious by keeping His plan to bring Christ into the world exactly on track. Before time, He determined to be gracious in Christ—to accomplish His redemption in the life and death of Christ, and to apply Christ and His redemption to believers by His Spirit. The Lord isn’t just being gracious to them in this passage. If you believe in Jesus, He is being gracious to you! And He still is.

How have you stumbled recently? How/why has the Lord still been gracious to you?

Suggested Songs: ARP51B “From My Sins” or TPH517 “I Know Whom I Have Believed”

2019.10.26 Hopewell @Home ▫ Genesis 20

Read Genesis 20

Questions from the Scripture text: Where does Abraham go in Genesis 20:1? What does he say about his wife (Genesis 20:2)? Who takes her? Whom does God visit in a dream in Genesis 20:3? What does He say to him? What does Abimelech ask him in Genesis 20:4? What do we learn that Sarah has done in Genesis 20:5? What claim does Abimelech make about himself? Who agrees with this claim (Genesis 20:6)? What has God done for Abimelech? What does God command Abimelech to do in Genesis 20:7? What does God call Abraham? What does Abimelech need Abraham to do for him? If Abimelech does not return Sarah, what will happen to whom? When does Abimelech rise (Genesis 20:8)? Whom does he tell about this? What is their response? Whom does Abimelech call in Genesis 20:9? In what manner does he speak to him (Genesis 20:9-10)? What specific question does he ask? What is Abraham’s (ironic) answer in Genesis 20:11? What excuse does he give in Genesis 20:12? Whom does he blame in Genesis 20:13a? How does he take some of the blame off of Sarah in verse 13b? In addition to returning Sarah, what else does Abimelech give to Abraham (Genesis 20:14)? What invitation does he make in Genesis 20:15? What value does Abimelech assign to what he has given Abraham to restore Sarah’s honor and set her right (Genesis 20:16)? What does Abraham do in Genesis 20:17? What does God do? What had God done (Genesis 20:18)? What does the Scripture call Sarah in Genesis 20:18?

Back in chapter 12, it must have been jarring to the Israelites who first received the book of Genesis to hear Pharaoh (the wicked Egyptian!) rebuking “good” father Abram. But now that we’re in chapter 20, and he’s a believer, and he’s grown in the faith, and his name is Abraham, he would do better in the same situation, right?

WRONG!

Here in chapter 20, it’s again jarring to hear Abimelech (the wicked Philistine!) rebuking God’s prophet (cf. Genesis 20:7) Abraham. Some readers think that perhaps the rebuke is not well-earned, and that Abraham has done nothing wrong. But the text itself emphasizes that Sarah is his wife (Genesis 20:2) despite what he said, and that she is his wife (Genesis 20:3), and that she is “the man’s wife” (Genesis 20:7), and that Abimelech restored his wife (Genesis 20:14)… and even concludes the account with “Sarah, Abraham’s wife” in Genesis 20:18.

Even Abraham’s sheepish explanation in Genesis 20:11-13 falls on its face. It is Abraham who did not fear God enough, and Abimelech whose fear of God (Genesis 20:3-5) features prominently in the passage and is confirmed even in Genesis 20:6. When Abimelech takes Abraham’s words at the end of Genesis 20:13 to refer to him as “your brother” in talking to Sarah in his public speech in Genesis 20:16, it settles accounts for her public name, but brings shame to Abraham’s weak excuse.

But the point of the passage isn’t so much Abraham’s continued failure. Believers who know ourselves are often shocked to find old habits of sin rearing their ugly heads once again. But, it isn’t great comfort merely to know that other saints have experienced this too. What is a great comfort is to observe God in this passage, relating by grace to His stumbling servant! He’s still defending Abraham’s interests (Genesis 20:3). He still considers him a prophet (Genesis 20:7). He still responds to his prayers as those of a righteous man (Genesis 20:7, Genesis 20:17, cf. James 5:16).

It was not for the sake of Abraham’s obedience that the Lord was merciful to him, but for the sake of Christ’s obedience that became Abraham’s righteousness through faith (cf. Genesis 15:6). When we stumble into old patterns of sin, let us rejoice that our Redeemer is this same God of Abraham, and our righteousness is that same righteousness of Christ!

In what ways have you stumbled recently or in the past? What if you stumble again?

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

2019.10.25 Hopewell @Home ▫ John 19:38-20:9

Read John 19:38-20:9

Questions from the Scripture text: What was Joseph of Arimathea (John 19:38)? Why was this a secret? What did he ask and receive from Pilate? Who else came in John 19:39? What did he bring? What did they do with Jesus’s body in John 19:40? Where was the garden in John 19:41? What was in it? Why did they lay Jesus there (John 19:42)? What day is it in John 20:1? Who goes to the tomb? When? What does she see there? Whom does she run to in John 20:2? What does she tell them? Where do they go in John 20:3? In what manner do they go (John 20:4)? Who gets there first? What does John see when he looks in, in John 20:5? What doesn’t he do? What does Peter do in John 20:6? What does he notice in John 20:7? What response does John have when he goes in and sees this too (John 20:8)? What had they not yet understood (John 20:9)? 

In John 19:38-42, we see the Holy Spirit emphasizing the historical truthfulness of Christ’s burial. This was important, because Jesus had prophesied that the Son of Man would be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights (cf. Matthew 12:40). Returning to the earth was part of Christ’s humiliation, as part of the penalty for Adam’s sin (cf. Genesis 3:19).

Even in facilitating Christ’s burial, we see the Lord using all sorts of imperfect people. Joseph of Arimathea was a member of the council (cf. Luke 23:30), and Niocdemus was a Pharisee on that council (cf. John 7:50), but they lacked courage—Joseph feared the Jews and it was by night that Nicodemus had come to Him in chapter 3. Mary Magdalene was about as low as you could get in society, the very opposite of those two men. Peter was slower (John 20:4), but John lacked boldness (John 20:5) and faith at first (John 20:8). They both had lacked understanding of the Scriptures (John 20:9) about the resurrection.

Here, as everywhere, Christ Himself is ultimately the only Hero. He had justified His people (cf. Romans 4:25). When the humiliated Christ of the grave became the exalted Christ of the resurrection, God made public display that His payment for sin had been accepted in full. He had been demonstrated to be the Son of God with power (cf. Romans 1:4). Just as Jesus had dismissed His Spirit by His own authority (cf. John 10:18), so by that authority as the Son of God, He had taken His life up again. He was being revealed as the One by Whom God would judge the world (cf. Acts 17:31). The great question for each descendant of the original Adam is whether we have responded to these resurrection-displayed facts about Jesus Christ!

What difference does it make to you that Christ’s payment has been accepted in full?

Suggested songs: ARP130 “Lord, from the Depths” or TPH22A “Sing, Choirs of New Jerusalem”

2019.10.24 Hopewell @Home ▫ Galatians 3:15-22

Read Galatians 3:15-22

Questions from the Scripture text: In what manner does the apostle speak (Galatians 3:15)? What cannot be done to a covenant once it is confirmed? Even to what kind of covenant? To Whom were the promises made (Galatians 3:16)? What point does this verse make about the word “Seed” in Genesis 22:18 as an explanation of Genesis 12:3 (along with several other promises)? Since the word ‘Seed’ is singular, Whom does Galatians 3:16 say that the word must mean? What came 430 years later (Galatians 3:17)? What couldn’t this later thing do to the covenant? What couldn’t it do to the promise? What is not of the law in Galatians 3:18? What question does Galatians 3:19 ask? Because of what was the law added? Until when did the law promise forgiveness of transgressions? In what way did the law come (as opposed to the way in which the promise came)? How many parties are involved with a mediator (Galatians 3:20)? So, what has to have been already in place for the law to come through a mediator? What does the law not change or undo, even at the time of Moses (Galatians 3:21)? What could it not do? What could it do (Galatians 3:22a)? To whom, alone, would the promise come both before and after Jesus Christ came (verse 22b-c)?

By attaching a date (430 years later) to “the law” in this section, the Holy Spirit shows that by “the law,” He is speaking of the Mosaic covenant. The argument in Galatians 3:15-18 is that the Mosaic covenant could not have been given as a way of inheriting, because this would have been to alter the terms of the Abrahamic covenant—an impossibility. So, inheritance was by the promise before, and inheritance is by the promise during the Mosaic administration, and inheritance is by the promise now.

Why, then, was there even a Mosaic covenant? That’s the question of Galatians 3:19. The answer is that it was a gift for restraining sin until Christ (verse 19). It came with the great display of God’s holiness at Sinai (angels, the ten thousand holy ones of Deuteronomy 33:2), through a mediator as great as Moses. Why the Mediator? Not for God, but for the people (Galatians 3:20). This covenant was never meant to give righteousness (Galatians 3:21), but rather to make sure that for righteousness, the people of God would only always believe in Jesus Christ, who was to come.

What the Lord did for His people in the long-term, historical sense, He also does in individuals’ lives. Romans 3:19-26 teaches that the law stops up every mouth so that righteousness that is witnessed by the Law and the Prophets comes apart from the law—only by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, whom God set forth as a propitiation.

Dear believer, your inheritance is not from how well you are doing as a Christian, but from the unchangeable, completely earned by Jesus, promise of God in Christ!

What good work have you been working on lately? What can’t it do for you? Who alone can do it?

Suggested songs: ARP32AB “What Blessedness” or TPH130A “Lord, from the Depths”

2019.10.23 Hopewell @Home ▫ Judges 21

Read Judges 21

Questions from the Scripture text: What had the rest of Israel sworn (Judges 21:1)? Where do they go in Judges 21:2? What do they do? What do they cry out (Judges 21:3)? What do they do in Judges 21:4? What loophole do they try to use in Judges 21:5-8? Who end up being the answer (Judges 21:8b-9)? What penalty does Jabesh-Gilead pay for having failed to participate in the judgment upon Benjamin (Judges 21:10-11)? But who end up being spared from this judgment (Judges 21:12)? For what purpose were they spared (Judges 21:13-14)? What problem did they still have (Judges 21:15-16)? Why is lack of wives such a problem (Judges 21:17)? What obstacle is restated in Judges 21:18? What loophole do they now make use of in Judges 21:19-23? What explanation do they give in Judges 21:22? What are they finally able to do in Judges 21:24? With what comment does Judges 21:25 summarize what has happened here? Whose approval is never given of these methods in the text?

In a culture where we are accustomed to marrying primarily for ourselves, not considering marriage as a vital way of serving the Lord and the Lord’s people, there is much that is shocking to us in this chapter.

There is much here that is sinful—there is very little theological comment in the text, and definitely no approval from the Lord. In fact, the summary statement is, “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” So the right way of interpreting is not for us to approve and imitate. THAT would make for a bizarre approach to courtship!

And yet, though their solution was cringeworthy, their concern was commendable.

They grieve over tragedy in the church (Judges 21:2). Do we grieve over the spiritual barrenness of the churches? Over children that learn to be worldly in the home and church, and depart the church into the world when they leave that home? Over those who leave churches that operate on a principle of what God wants to a church that gives them a bit more of what they want?

They are concerned to keep what they have sworn by Yahweh (Judges 21:7, Judges 21:18). Of course, it is possible to vow to something that is positively evil, in which case making the vow was wicked, and keeping the vow would further be wicked. That does not appear to be the case here; but even if it were, the concern to keep their vow is commendable. In a place and time when believers think nothing of throwing away what they have promised before the face of God, it is sobering to think that, in some ways, the church is in a worse place than the people of God were in Judges 21. How easily do you break vows made before God?

They are concerned for the remaining Benjamites to have fruitful marriages (Judges 21:16-17). It has been a theme in the book of Judges that the wicked have failed to come out to war against the enemies of God and His people. But, from the slaughter of Jabesh Gilead, eligible brides’ lives are spared for the Benjamites who also deserved death and whose lives have been spared. Much of the tribe of Benjamin, from Judges 21 on, is made up of those who were under the sentence of death but spared! This factor, of each having spared from death for the other, would at minimum give the new couple a common starting point for their decidedly uncommon marriages. Now, the application would look very differently—modest apparel, carefulness in types of interaction, setting an example in how we talk about our spouses, etc.—but, the question is: how much are we putting into promoting one another’s marriages? What they ended up doing may not have been commendable, but their thought and effort puts many of us to shame.

Ultimately, this passage leaves us thankful that Jesus Christ is King in Israel, so that we would not be left to our own wisdom, desires, and rules. May we not only rest entirely upon who He is and what He has done, but also diligently employ His means in our lives, lest we be well-meaning but kingless fools and scoundrels.

In what areas of life/church have you been learning that the Lord has given instruction, where you had previously operated according to your own ideas?

Suggested Songs: ARP119W “Lord, Let My Cry” or TPH174 “The Ten Commandments”

2019.10.22 Hopewell @Home ▫ 2 Corinthians 4:1-7

Read 2 Corinthians 4:1-7

Questions from the Scripture: What have Paul and his companions received for their ministry (2 Corinthians 4:1)? What do they not lose? What does he call the things that they have renounced in 2 Corinthians 4:2? In what do they refuse to walk? How do they refuse to handle the word of God? Instead, what do they do with the truth? To what aspect, then, of every man, do they commend themselves? In whose sight? What may happen to their gospel (2 Corinthians 4:3a)? But to whom would it be veiled (verse 3b)? What does 2 Corinthians 4:4 call the devil? What has he done to those who are perishing? What do they not do? What does this veil keep them from seeing? Who is Christ, according to verse 4? What, then, do Paul and his companions not preach (2 Corinthians 4:5)? What do they preach? How do they consider themselves? Who does the work (2 Corinthians 4:6)? What else has He done about 4000 years prior? In whom else has He already done this spiritual counterpart to that work? Where does He shine? What light does He give? In whose face is the knowledge of this glory received? By what kind of vessel is this treasure conveyed (2 Corinthians 4:7)? What does this show?

Next week’s Call to Worship, Prayer for Help, Song of Adoration, and Confession of Sin all come from 2 Corinthians 4:1-7. Here, the apostle explains why his ministry is not generally impressive to all. One might have (wrongly) expected that the ministry of an apostle would be impressive to anyone.

Paul’s ultimate response is that God alone is the impressiveness of the work, and those who are not impressed with Him are not going to find anything else to be impressed with in his ministry (2 Corinthians 4:7). This doesn’t bother him, because his ministry is not his idea or his pride. It as an assignment of God by the mercy of God. It may seem to be going poorly, but if it is of God, then there is no reason to lose heart!

Ironically, the apostle refers to superficially impressive ministry as “the hidden things of shame.” There is a way of handling the Word of God that looks impressive on the outside, but what you cannot see is that it is man-derived and man-dependent. But the apostles are not concerned with commending themselves to men’s admiration. They are concerned with commending themselves to men’s consciences. Oh, that we would learn to see our life as an assignment from God and deal earnestly with others as those who will have to stand before Him!! How this might help us to stop living for their applause!

Will such a ministry have a hundred percent conversion rate? No and yes. In one sense, no. There are those who are perishing. And if the Lord has not atoned for them, and is not going to regenerate them, then what exactly are we supposed to be able to do about that? It is not just that they are unable to see God’s glory. It is also that they are not permitted. 2 Corinthians 4:4 says that God has set things up this way because He refuses to shine the light of the gospel upon them.

But in another sense, yes. Such a ministry will have a hundred percent conversion rate. For, the Lord is all powerful. He spoke light itself into existence. And He can speak spiritual light into existence in the hearts. And He does, because in the case of His elect, He is determined to give them the light of the knowledge of His glory in the face of Jesus Christ!

What kind of ministry should we look for in the church? Whom should we be looking to make it effective? With whom should we aim at being impressed? What aims and approaches are incompatible with this?

Suggested songs: ARP1 “How Blessed the Man” or TPH271 “Blessed Jesus, At Your Word”