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The Circle of Knowledge - Colossians 1:9-12

2/23/2017

“[M]y people are destroyed from lack of knowledge.” – Hosea 4:6

Sometimes, I think knowledge gets a bad rap, and especially within the Church. We’re focused on love, faith, tolerance, kindness and compassion, etcetera—and rightly so! But too often, particularly in the 21st-century American Church, knowledge has become the redheaded stepchild kicked to the corner. And that is very much not the biblical model. Take a look at what Scripture tells us:

Knowledge originates with God.[1] Knowledge was central in His creative process[2] and His creation reveals that knowledge.[3] Knowledge is linked to godliness,[4] rejection of knowledge leads to depravity,[5] and zeal for God without knowledge is fruitless.[6] Solomon was praised and rewarded for seeking knowledge,[7] Peter advised us to pursue and grow in knowledge,[8] and Jesus condemned the experts in the law for keeping others from gaining knowledge.[9] Knowledge is equated with competency to instruct one another.[10] Knowledge is part of the renewal process of the Christian.[11] Knowledge is linked to salvation.[12] Knowledge is one of the end goals of Christian maturation[13] and is essential to living a righteous life.[14] We’re also told that “all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” are hidden in Christ[15] and that we are to take aggressive action against that which attacks the knowledge of God.[16]

Kind of gives you the idea that biblical knowledge is important, doesn’t it?

Now, to be sure, the Bible also cautions against knowledge—or rather, against abuses of it. We’re told that “knowledge puffs up while love builds up.”[17] Paul warns of destroying weaker brothers or sisters with knowledge.[18] He also says that knowledge, without love, is of no value.[19] People—in biblical times and in modern ones—have become so consumed with knowledge that it has led them to seek it at the expense of love and faith, or to shun those who don’t have knowledge, or even to cherish a special, additional, elitist form of “knowledge” beyond what is in Scripture. As with almost everything in life, there is a balance.

Focusing on the ideal picture of knowledge, I want to hone in one passage I’ve yet to touch on. In Colossians 1:9-12, Paul writes the following:

For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light.

Paul opens his letter to the church in Colossae, as he often does, by thanking God for the Colossians’ faith, fruitfulness, and love. He transitions in verse 9 to his continued prayer, asking “God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives.” This phrase “knowledge of his will” is a tricky one. Is Paul praying that God will give the Colossians input on whether or not to refinance their home loan, provide them with career advice, or put a blinking beacon over every “right” decision? Is that what is meant by “his will”? While God can give direction on such everyday issues, Scripture gives us a different understanding. We’re told “it is God’s will that you should be sanctified,” specifically in the context of purity.[20] We’re told it “is God’s will” that we “give thanks in all circumstances.”[21] God’s will also instructs us to do good,[22] sometimes to suffer for it,[23] and is instrumental in spreading the gospel.[24] We also see that He will equip us for doing His will[25] and that we are to pray “according to his will.”[26] One might boil down “God’s will” to this: holy living. That is, God’s will is that you “be holy in all you do; for it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy.’”[27]

It is to this knowledge that Paul is speaking in Colossians 1:9. He is praying that God would, “through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives,” enable His people to know how to live a holy life. As is often the case, Paul’s writing builds. He goes on to give the reason for that prayer for knowledge in verse 10: “. . . that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way:” That sounds similar to what we just looked at in terms of God’s will, and we’re starting to see what I call “the circle of knowledge.” But there’s more. Note the colon at the end of the above phrase. Paul is building again, and he now moves on to four specific ways we can live a worthy life and please God.

1) By “bearing fruit in every good work.” Jesus spoke extensively about fruit, telling us that we are to bear fruit,[28] that failing to produce fruit has dire consequences,[29] that our fruits identify us,[30] and that we can’t bear fruit ourselves but only through Him.[31] And of course, Galatians 5:22-23 describes for us what that fruit looks like. Now Paul gives us one of the keys to producing that fruit.

2—I’m going out of order, hang with me—) By “being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience.” I don’t know about you, but I need plenty of endurance and patience to get through each day. The good news, evidenced by Paul’s prayer and echoed in the old hymn, is that “There is pow’r, pow’r, wonder-working pow’r in the precious blood of the Lamb.” Elsewhere, Paul prays for believers, that they “may know . . . his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead . . .”[32] Let that sink in. The same power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead—that defied death!!!—is available to us. How do we get that power? According to the passage in Colossians, it is tied to knowledge of God’s will. If that doesn’t make you want to crack open the Scriptures . . .

3) By “giving joyful thanks to the Father.” It should go without saying that we should live in thankfulness to God, but how often do we fail to do so? Paul reminds us that “he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”[33] Thankfulness for our salvation—and all that it entails—is part of living a holy life, and is tied to our understanding and knowledge. To borrow the model Paul used in his letter to the Romans, “How can they be thankful for that which they do not understand?”

4) By “growing in the knowledge of God.” I specifically went out of order to highlight again this “circle of knowledge.” Paraphrasing, Paul’s prayer tells us that knowledge of God’s will leads to holy living. And now we’re told that one of the manifestations of holy living is growing in the knowledge of God. In other words, the more you know, the more you know. The prior cautions about an excessive focus on or abuse of knowledge notwithstanding, we’ve just seen how paramount knowledge is to the Christian life. Paul wrote, “Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!”[34] Jesus prayed, “Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.”[35] The Greek word is transliterated as ginóskó, meaning “to come to know, recognize, perceive.”[36] And Paul writes, “For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears” and “Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.”[37] We are mistaken if we believe eternal life begins when we die. It begins when we come alive,[38] and the process of sanctification begins at that moment and continues until the day our salvation is consummated. The same is true of our knowledge of God—it is a process.

Our knowledge—our knowing—of God won’t be complete until we are with Him in glory, when we “shall know fully.” But until that day, we can continue to grow in our knowledge, knowing that it will bear fruit in our lives, and one of those fruits is more knowledge of God, which leads to more fruit, and more knowledge, and more fruit, and more knowledge, and more fruit . . .

[1] See Proverbs 2:6
[2] See Proverbs 3:19-20
[3] See Psalm 19:1-2
[4] See Titus 1:1; II Peter 1:3
[5] See Romans 1:28
[6] See Romans 10:1-3
[7] See II Chronicles 1:11-12
[8] See II Peter 1:5-8, 3:18
[9] See Luke 11:52
[10] See Romans 15:14
[11] See Colossians 3:10
[12] See I Timothy 2:3-4; II Timothy 2:25
[13] See Ephesians 4:11-13
[14] See Philippians 1:9-11
[15] Colossians 2:2-3
[16] See II Corinthians 10:5
[17] I Corinthians 8:1
[18] See I Corinthians 8:11
[19] See I Corinthians 13:2
[20] I Thessalonians 4:3-6
[21] I Thessalonians 5:18
[22] See I Peter 2:15
[23] See I Peter 3:17, 4:19
[24] See Acts 18:21; Romans 1:10, 15:32; Hebrews 2:4
[25] See Hebrews 13:21
[26] I John 5:14
[27] I Peter 1:15-16
[28] See Matthew 3:8; John 15:16
[29] See Matthew 3:10, 7:19, John 15:2
[30] See Luke 6:43-44; John 15:8
[31] See John 15:4-5
[32] Ephesians 1:18-20
[33] Colossians 1:13-14
[34] Romans 11:33
[35] John 17:3, emphasis added
[36] Strong’s Concordance
[37] I Corinthians 13:9-10, 12
[38] See Ephesians 2:4-5

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In the Cloud - Hebrews 12:1-4

2/9/2017

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Today I want to look at a passage of great encouragement to believers, but one that I think is often somewhat misunderstood. Look with me at Hebrews 12:1-4:

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.

I often hear people refer to this crowd of witnesses as Christians who have died, who are now waiting in heaven cheering us on, like runners at the end of a race. But I don’t believe that is the imagery the author of Hebrews is using, for several reasons. I will spare you, for the time being, my theories on time, space, and eternity, and I won’t delve into the questions that could arise if we assume the saints in heaven are watching us in our fallen condition here below. Those are topics for another time. But the primary reason I think this “cloud of witnesses” refers to something else is the context in which we find it.

Hebrews 12 begins with the word “therefore,” and I’ve heard it said numerous times that when we come to the word therefore in Scripture, we need to ask what it’s there for. Therefore is a conjunctive adverb, a word used to connect two independent clauses. Synonyms include “consequently,” “thus,” “as a result,” and “for that reason.” Whenever we see one of those phrases or words in the Bible, we need to make sure we understand what two clauses or thoughts are being joined together and why. In this case, that means turning back to Hebrews 11.

Known as the “Hall of Faith,” Hebrews 11 traces Old Testament examples of faith from Abel to Abraham to Moses to many of the prophets. The chapter concludes with a summary: These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.[1] That last word, perfect, is the same Greek word we find in Hebrews 5:8-9, where we read the following: Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him. Clearly this isn’t talking about Christ being made perfect in the sense of overcoming sin or evolving from a lesser state. Rather, the Greek teleioó means “to bring to an end, to complete.”[2] Compare that with the final uttering of Christ on the cross, “It is finished,”[3]—from the Greek teleó, which means “to bring to an end, complete, fulfill.”[4] Once Christ obediently finished—that is, brought to completion—His work on the cross, He became the source of our salvation. Now, jump back to Hebrews 11, where we see that these great heroes of the faith would be “made perfect”—that is, brought to completion—“only together with us.”

So what does that mean? What is that fulfillment? We see earlier in Hebrews 11 that Abraham was “looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God,”[5] and to “a better country—a heavenly one.”[6] Moses, we’re told, chose obedience to God instead of the pleasure of sin “because he was looking ahead to his reward.”[7] Others, we read, were looking toward their resurrection.[8] In short, they were anticipating the fulfillment/completion/perfection of their faith—eternal life with God. Take a moment and read through the chapter and see some of what these people went through and endured and accomplished in faith.

THEREFORE, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses . . .

“Cloud” can be translated as “multitude” or “great company”[9] and the word witness has several meanings. On one hand, a witness is someone who observes something, such as a witness to a particular event. But it also has a connotation of testifying to what was observed, as in a witness in a courtroom. In Hebrews 12:1, the multitude of witnesses aren’t observing us. Instead, they are people who have observed and seen God’s faithfulness and testify—that is, witness—to it by their life of faith, recorded for us. They are to be our inspiration, our guides. We are to follow in their footsteps, emulating their faith.

Based upon that, the author of the book exhorts us to “throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles.” Please note those are two different things. Throwing off sin should be a given for Christians. But what about everything that hinders? Hindrances aren’t necessarily sins in and of themselves. An obsession with TV or Facebook or video games that keeps you from reading your Bible or praying regularly can hinder you. Sporting events or school activities that come before church attendance or participation in a Bible study or small group can hinder you. A devotion to family or friends that take up so much time that you “don’t have time” to be involved in church ministries can hinder you. Watching TV, playing on the school softball team, and loving and caring for family aren’t sinful. But they can impede your walk with Christ, and we’re told to throw off such hindrances.

A common theme seen throughout Scripture is a warning or admonition followed by encouragement. Paul repeatedly uses this method. He doesn’t just tell us what not to do, but reorients our focus toward what to do. The author of Hebrews does the same thing here, encouraging us to “run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” Perseverance means to keep on keeping on, to keep going. The image of a race is one used elsewhere in Scripture,[10] and we can take encouragement that we’re not blazing a new trail. The race is marked out for us, chiefly by those who have gone before us (see chapter 11 again).

In addition to following the path of those who’ve gone before us in faith, we’re directed to fix our eyes on Jesus, “the pioneer (other versions use founder and author) and perfecter of faith.” The Greek for perfecter is teleiōtēn, from the same word teleioó we looked at before. The idea is that our faith is all about Jesus. It begins with Him and His work on the cross and it ends with Him bringing us to glory. But look what else we see about Jesus. It tells us He endured the cross. One might say He persevered, as we have just been instructed to do. We see here that we’re not being asked to do anything extraordinary, that Christ hasn’t already done, that other believers haven’t already done. Now, “fixing our eyes on Jesus” is one of those Christian phrases that sounds very spiritual but can be somewhat ambiguous in terms of application. So let me suggest that one of the primary ways we can fix our eyes on Jesus is by looking to His Word. In this particular context, that means studying the faithful who have gone before us. Paul wrote “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.”[11] The men and women listed in Hebrews 11 show us how to live a life of faith. When we follow their example, we are following Christ.

Verse 2 also informs us that Christ scorned the cross’s shame. The Roman cross is one of the most barbaric methods of capital punishment ever devised, and also one of the most disgraceful, as the condemned was left to hang naked in public, suffering slowly for all to see. But Jesus turned that on its head. Paul wrote that He “disarmed the powers and authorities” and “made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.”[12] He beat the devil at his own game, and instead of being shamed, Christ was glorified by sitting down “at the right hand of the throne of God”—the ultimate place of honor.

We’re told in verse 3 to consider Him (the Greek would be to consider attentively,[13] to meditate upon) so that we do not lose heart. That idea is drawn out a little more in verse 4, where the author writes, “you have not yet resisted [in your struggle against sin] to the point of shedding your blood.” While there are many Christians around the world who have indeed paid for their faith in blood, the majority of us—especially in America—will never shed a drop of blood for the sake of Christ. Compare that with the sufferings of Jesus on the cross and the plight of some in chapter 11’s Hall of Faith: There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated—the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground.[14]

This was almost something of a reality check to the book’s original recipients, and I think to us as well. Our struggles are real, and I don’t mean to minimize your problems or pain. But the heroes of the faith, including the “pioneer and perfecter” endured far worse. Spurred on by their example, by their witness (and by the knowledge that Christ has conquered the shameful cross and now sits glorified with God the Father), let us follow in their footsteps until that day when we, together with them, will be made perfect. If that isn’t encouraging, I don’t know what is . . .

[1] Hebrews 11:39-40

[2] Strong’s Concordance

[3] John 19:30

[4] Strong’s Concordance

[5] Hebrews 11:10

[6] Hebrews 11:16

[7] Hebrews 11:26

[8] Hebrews 11:35

[9] Strong’s Concordance

[10] I Corinthians 9:24; II Timothy 4:7

[11] I Corinthians 11:1

[12] Colossians 2:15

[13] Strong’s Concordance

[14] Hebrews 11:35-38

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Revival - II Chronicles 7:14

2/1/2017

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If Americans, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal America.

Sadly, this is how many Christians read and/or apply II Chronicles 7:14. But that is not what it says. Rather, in Scripture we read the following:

When Solomon had finished the temple of the Lord and the royal palace, and had succeeded in carrying out all he had in mind to do in the temple of the Lord and in his own palace, the Lord appeared to him at night and said:
“I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a temple for sacrifices.
“When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”
(II Chronicles 7:11-14)

As we look at this passage, we’ll discover several key elements that dramatically change the meaning from what is commonly inferred by even the most well-meaning preachers or politicians. Let’s start with a little context. Solomon has just finished building the temple of the Lord, and has offered a prayer of dedication (see chapter 6) that we’ll look at a bit later. It is in response to this prayer that God speaks to Solomon, and that is paramount to our understanding and application of this promise.

Let’s start by taking notice of whom God is speaking in verse 14. He says, “if my people, who are called by name . . .” It should be obvious, but I’ll state it anyway: this is NOT talking about the United States of America. We need to be very careful when we study Scripture that we don’t take a promise made to a person or group of people and make blanket applications to us today. We also need to beware of doing the inverse—only applying biblical promises to biblical people in biblical times. Instead, what we should do is study these promises and their context. Some of them are directly applicable to us today. Others, while revealing God’s character and typical methodology, aren’t.

So who are “my people, who are called by name?” For clarity, read Solomon’s prayer of dedication (II Chronicles 6:14-42) in which he says, “your people Israel” six times.[1] The Hebrew word used is ‘am·me·ḵā, and it is found 77 times in the Old Testament, primarily to refer to the people of Israel. But interestingly, it is the same word used in Daniel 12:1 to refer to all Christians. Now, in the context in II Chronicles 7, God is clearly speaking of the people of Israel. The promise is to them, and it is in direct response to Solomon’s request. The oft-quoted verse 14 doesn’t stand on its own; rather, it is part of a sentence that begins in verse 13. Compare what we see there (“When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people”) with Solomon’s requests (II Chronicles 6:26, 28). In short, Solomon asked that when ‘am·me·ḵā (“your people”) were punished for their sins and then repented, God would relent and deliver them. And God, in His response, agreed to do exactly that.

What we have here is, essentially, a covenant between God and His people. That brings up two questions. First, is the covenant still intact? And second, have the parties changed? We know from Scripture that God does not change[2] and that His word does not change.[3] I think it is safe to infer then, that, while God made a specific promise to Solomon, He will deal similarly with His people today. That raises the obvious question, who now are God’s people? I promise you, no amount of scouring the Scriptures, nor the Constitution nor Mayflower Compact (brilliant documents that they are), will lead you to an answer of the good ol’ U.S. of A. And before you forward this post to all your Israeli friends, let me propose that the Hebrew ‘am·me·ḵā (and its equivalent in II Chronicles 7:14, ‘am·mî, meaning “my people”) best corresponds with II Peter 2:9-10:

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Paul writes similarly in Ephesians 2:19:

Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household.

Scripture also teaches that the Gentiles have been grafted into Israel[4] and Paul repeatedly writes that there is no difference any longer between Jew and Gentile,[5] but that faith in Jesus Christ is what makes a person a child of God[6]—what makes them “my people.” Therefore, if we’re going to apply the promise of II Chronicles 7:14 today, we need to apply it to the Church. That has some rather serious implications, because God’s promise of deliverance was contingent upon several things. Read it with me again:

[I]f my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

The promised forgiveness and healing is not dependent on Hollywood celebrities humbling themselves, politicians seeking God’s face, and homosexuals and abortion advocates turning from their wicked ways. Rather, it specifies my people (‘am·mî)—Christians—as the ones that need to model humility, that need to pursue Almighty God, that need to turn from sinning and from tolerating sin. This isn’t to say that America doesn’t have its problems and isn’t in need of spiritual revival, or that God won’t respond to those who penitently seek him. But we err when we make this promise patriotic and start seeing it as a solution to get America back on track.

Please keep one other thing in mind. The promised deliverance includes forgiveness of sins and also the healing of the land. God’s people in II Chronicles had a specified piece of land that belonged to them. God’s people today—even the ones living in America—do not.[7] So it would be a misapplication of the promise to say that if the Church “gets its act together” that God will, for lack of a better term, make America great again. That may very well happen—the darkness may retreat as the light grows brighter. Our culture (and thus our politics and laws) might be transformed as the Church is renewed. But it is also possible that the healing will be internal. It may very well be that American culture will continue to decay, that society will slide farther and farther away from God, but His people will be revived and transformed.

Don’t get me wrong in all this. I hope and pray that America—both as individual people and as a collective entity—will turn to God, trusting and following Him and His ways. But the focus of II Chronicles 7:14 isn’t on America; it is on those “who are called by my name”—that is, Christians. Nor is the end result a renewed and restored America; it is a renewed and restored Church. And that just might have an eternal impact on America and “even to the ends of the earth.”

[1] II Chronicles 6:21,24,25,27,29,32

[2] Psalm 102:25-27; Malachi 3:6; James 1:17; Hebrews 13:8

[3] Numbers 23:19; Psalm 33:11; Hebrews 6:17;

[4] Romans 11:17-21

[5] Romans 3:22 and 10:12; Galatians 3:28; Colossians 3:11

[6] Romans 3:22; Galatians 2:16 and 3:26; Ephesians 2:8-9;

[7] Philippians 3:20

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Sealed - Ephesians 1:13-14

1/23/2017

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Perhaps no two verses have been as comforting to me as a Christian as Ephesians 1:13-14:

And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.

This text is rich with words of incredibly significant meaning, and I want to explore a few of them with you today in the hope that they might provide you that same sense of assurance, identity, and comfort which they have provided me over the years.

Paul starts his letter to the church in Ephesus by thanking God for numerous spiritual blessings—being chosen before the creation of the world, adoption, grace, redemption, forgiveness, and so on. Paul seems almost unable to contain his excitement over what he is writing, such that verses 3-14 flow out of him in (at least in the original Greek) one long sentence. (There will be no grammatical study or sentence diagramming this week.) Given the breadth of these blessings, note how he starts verse 13: “You also were included.” This appears to be a statement to Gentiles, contrasting verse 12’s “we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ,” and thus a statement to the church today.

Two brief notes on the idea of inclusion. First, as Paul makes clear throughout his writings, we (Gentiles) don’t get spiritual leftovers or scraps. We are fully immersed. We get it all. There are no second-class citizens in the kingdom of God nor “redheaded stepchildren” in God’s family. Second, by the definition, if some are included, then some must be excluded. While it is not a popular message in this day and age, Scripture teaches that not everyone will be saved. So Paul moves on to underlining how one gets included: “When you heard the message of truth” and “when you believed.” This echoes his words in Romans 10: How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard?[1] Biblically, there is a prerequisite to salvation—hearing the gospel and believing the gospel. As noted above, it’s not possible to believe in something you don’t know to believe in. Likewise, it’s worthless to hear a message if you don’t also believe the message.[2]

But look what happens when hearing and belief are combined. Verse 13 says, “When you believed.” Several translations, including previous iterations of the NIV, used the phrase “having [also] believed.” This is an important distinction because it recognizes that a transaction has taken place. It is not “When you believe” or “as you believe,” but “when you believed,” past tense. Jesus spoke to the subject when He said, “whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.”[3] Note the change (“death to life”) and the tense (“has crossed”). I want to be clear that saving faith is not a one-time thing with no effect or evidence thereafter. But I want to be equally clear that, much as a person is born physically at a point in time, they are also born spiritually at a point in time. Like a physical birth, a spiritual birth can happen quite suddenly or can take a long time and be difficult. But there is a starting point, even if the person born can’t necessarily identify when it was. (It’s okay—God can.) Jesus told Nicodemus that he must “born again,”[4] implying that no person starts off spiritually alive. Paul touches on this just a few verses ahead in Ephesians.[5] We are physically born spiritually dead. Therefore, if we are now spiritually alive, there has to have been a change in status. I’m belaboring the point, perhaps, but as we go forward I think you’ll see why.

Note what comes next, and again note the tense: When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal. Paul is again writing of something that happened in the past to Christians. It is not something that will/might happen or that is in the process of happening; rather, if they—if you have placed your faith in Christ, if you are “saved,” then “you were marked” with that seal. It is already done.

So what does that mean? What is that mark, that seal, and why is it so important? This is not the only place in Scripture that references the concept. A few chapters later, Paul writes, “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.”[6] And to the church in Corinth, he said, “Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come”[7] and “Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.”[8] Commenting on II Corinthians 1:22, Albert Barnes writes the following:

The word used here means to seal up; to close and make fast with a seal, or signet; as, e. g., books, letters, etc. that they may not be read. It is also used in the sense of setting a mark on anything, or a seal, to denote that it is genuine, authentic, confirmed, or approved, as when a deed, compact, or agreement is sealed. It is thus made sure; and is confirmed or established. . . . In a similar manner Christians are said to be sealed; . . . God grants to them His Holy Spirit as the certain pledge that they are His, and shall be approved and saved in the last day.[9]

Sealing has a double meaning. On one hand, it implies that something cannot be opened. In today’s vernacular, Paul might have written that “you were locked with state-of-the-art, unbreakable encryption.” In his language, he gave us Romans 8:38-39. But secondarily, a seal is also a means of authentication. Something that is sealed is owned; it belongs to the sealer and bears His mark. (See also John 6:27.) Paul asked, “Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen?”[10] Jesus stated that “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.”[11] The person who has believed in Christ has been authenticated as God’s and is locked and protected as God’s, and there is no power in the universe that can break the seal of God—except God, and we know from Scripture that He will not do so.[12]

Two more things from the Ephesians 1 passage. First, we see what specifically the seal is—the Holy Spirit. Remember what Jesus told His disciples shortly before His death? “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—the Spirit of truth.”[13] Post-Pentecost believers have the benefit of the indwelling Holy Spirit, functioning in many roles, not the least of which is as a deposit. Other versions use the terms pledge, earnest, down payment, and guarantee. Another word might be assurance.

As we read all these verses, another phrase keeps standing out: redemption. This speaks to the culmination, when the seal will be opened because it is no longer necessary. At “the end,” the “last day,” at the “day of redemption,” we who have believed will dwell eternally with God. We will have full payment, that for which we “groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for . . . the redemption of our bodies.”[14] Until that day, we are marked, protected, locked, sealed so that no one and nothing can undo what God has done.

To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy—to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.[15]

[1] Romans 10:14

[2] Hebrews 4:2

[3] John 5:24

[4] John 3:3

[5] Ephesians 2:1-3

[6] Ephesians 4:30

[7] II Corinthians 1:21-22, emphasis added

[8] II Corinthians 5:5

[9] Notes on the Bible by Albert Barnes, Public Domain

[10] Romans 8:33

[11] John 10:28-29

[12] John 6:39, I Corinthians 1:8, Philippians 1:6, II Timothy 2:19

[13] John 14:16-17 (See also John 15:26; 16:12-15)

[14] Romans 8:23

[15] Jude 24-25

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The Word - John 1:1-2, 14

1/12/2017

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Who is Jesus Christ? This is the crucial question of the ages, the question every person must answer. It is a question at the heart of the Gospel of John, a book I plan to visit frequently in this blog series. Therefore, I think it only appropriate to examine John’s “introduction” to his book:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. . . . The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:1-2, 14)

In the original Greek, “the Word” is translated as logos, a masculine noun meaning “a word, speech, divine utterance, analogy.”[1] It is from this Greek word that we get our word “logo” which is an image or symbol used to denote identity. As referenced above, one of the key themes of the Gospel of John is the identity of the Word, and as we break down these first two verses of the book, we’ll see John laying the groundwork for that theme.

Proper grammar has become something of a lost art and the study of grammar is often viewed as tedious, but we can gain much insight into Scripture if we take the time to look at the grammatical structure used. In John 1:1, we see three separate clauses—each containing a noun (the Word) and a verb (was). So let’s look at them in order:

1) The Word was in the beginning. This tells us that the Word precedes creation (see verse 3 and Colossians 1:15-17) and denies any claim that Jesus was merely a mortal being. Rather, the Word is eternal. In his prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus reiterates this point when He says, “And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.”[2] Not only was Jesus in existence “in the beginning” but he was glorified with the Father. And that leads us to our second clause.

2) The Word was with God. This shows union, and throughout the book, Jesus repeatedly refers to this unity of purpose.[3] But let’s be clear, John is not just speaking of two like-minded entities. Rather, with God, purpose is derived from identity. Two people might come together and achieve unity because they have a similar goal or purpose. God the Father and God the Son have a unified purpose because of their intimate, perfect, eternal love relationship. So the Word not only precedes creation by being in existence first, but the Word also supersedes creation by having eternal, purposeful, intimate unity with God.

3) The Word was God. The third clause is different. The first two follow the same pattern—noun, verb, preposition, and object of preposition. In the last sentence, there is no preposition; we only have a noun (the Word), a verb (was), and a second noun (God). A prepositional phrase is a modifier—that is, something to describe an attribute (eternality, unity). But in this third clause, there is no modification. There is only identification. Put another way, the first two sentences give us details about the Word (when and where) but the third tells us who the Word is at its essence. As mentioned above, that identity is a huge theme of the book, so John starts out not with the birth of the incarnate Jesus, but with the eternal existence of the pre-incarnate Jesus.

Sadly, there are many people—some who categorize themselves as Christian—who would deny the deity of Christ. They claim He was merely human, or was imbued with a form of godliness for a period of time. In the first verse of his gospel, John makes it clear that such beliefs are nothing short of heresy. The Word existed at the beginning—or origin, per the Greek word archē—and the Word was God. Not a God, as some cults would claim. Not like a God. He was God. Other Bible authors use the phrases “exact representation of his being”[4] and “in very nature”[5] to describe this union.

Now, I’ve been interchanging “the Word” and “Jesus,” and because heresy and false teaching is like water seeping into cracks, finding any and every which way to pervert and delude, let’s briefly turn our attention to verse two. Lest anyone try to claim that the Word of verses 1 and 14 is a different entity than the Jesus in the rest of the book, note what pronoun John uses in verse 2. Not “It” but “He.” John restates the Word’s eternality and unity with God, but does so by referring to the Word with a masculine pronoun. And while this passage is the most well-known, it isn’t the only place John calls Jesus the Word. In I John, he pens something quite similar to what we’ve just read:

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. (I John 1:1-3, emphasis added)

Notice what John tells his readers here. He talks about hearing, seeing, and touching the Word. Make no mistake, the Word John refers to in his biblical writings is not some inanimate object, not just an oral word or a conveyed message. This Word “has appeared to us.”

This leads us back to John 1, where we see “the Word” again in verse 14. Contrast what we’ve just looked at, an eternal being not only unified with God but also that is God, with “became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” If Christ’s identity is only human, as some claim, He is nothing. But if Christ’s identity is only divine, then we are nothing to Him. We are, as Jonathan Edwards put it, “sinners in the hands of an angry God” and that is the end of the story. But the glorious news of the Gospel—the core theme of Scripture to which John and all authors ultimately point—is that “the Word became flesh” to “give his life as a ransom for many.”[6]

Crucial to Christian living is an understanding of your identity in Christ, and in order to accurately understand who you are, you need to accurately understand who Christ is. John 1:1-2, 14 gives us the foundation for that understanding, and it is something we will continue to explore throughout this blog. In future posts, we will look at the “glory of the one and only Son” and how He is “full of grace and truth.” But for now, I want to focus on two reasons why understanding the identity of the Word is critical:

First, as mentioned above but worth underscoring, it helps us refute false teaching and heresy that would deny the deity of Christ, the eternal nature of Christ, or the unity within the Trinity. John 1:1 is by no means the only verse in Scripture to counter these claims, but it serves as a touchstone for doing so.

Second, understanding the identity of the Word—particularly His dual nature, divine and human—lays the foundation for the Gospel message. All of Scripture, ultimately, points back to Jesus Christ and to His coming to earth to die for sinful mankind. Therefore, we must be sure that we build all our biblical study and understanding on that foundation.

[1] Strong’s Concordance—emphasis added

[2] John 17:5

[3] Specifically, see John 5:19, 36; John 8:16-18; John 10:25-30; John 17:6-8

[4] Hebrews 1:3

[5] Philippians 2:6

[6] Matthew 20:28

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Intro - Acts 17:10-12

1/5/2017

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I am generally not a huge fan of “devotional” books and blogs. I’ve found too many of them to be fluffy and frilly, heavily based on personal experience, or over-commercialized. So it might seem odd that I have decided to write a “devotional” blog in 2017. But this one’s going to be a little different.

I fear that Christianity often becomes a pursuit of style at the expense of substance. I crave substance, and decided to write something that reflects that. I see myself as a meat and potatoes kind of guy—at the dinner table and in life, and especially when it comes to faith—so I decided to name the blog accordingly. As I thought about it a little more, I realized God has already provided the “meat” in His Word. So I’ve named the blog “. . . And Potatoes.” Is that a little dorky? Maybe. But I’ll dare to bet it’s the only so-named blog in the non-culinary world (or in the culinary world, for that matter).

So what does all this mean, when you step away from the metaphors? What is this blog about? Simple. Over the course of the next year, I plan to “think out loud” over some of my favorite and most influential passages of Scripture. I’m a pastor’s kid, and I tend to study Scripture from a preacher’s perspective, but it isn’t my intent to preach at you. Rather, I hope to “stimulate you [and me] to wholesome thinking.”(1)

I know some of you won’t be interested in reading what I have to say, and that’s fine. Others might skim a few posts now and then, and others might consume every word. Wherever you fit on the spectrum, I have a challenge for you—one that applies to checking out my blog, reading your favorite Christian author, or listening to a sermon on Sunday. And that challenge is lifted from the book of Acts, where we read the following:

As soon as it was night, the believers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. On arriving there, they went to the Jewish synagogue. Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. As a result, many of them believed, as did also a number of prominent Greek women and many Greek men. (Acts 17:10-12)

We know little of Berea from Scripture, as it is only listed one other time outside this passage. Yet the people of Berea garnered notoriety that exists to this day based on their response to Paul’s preaching. And that is where I want to briefly focus. From this short passage we learn two things about the Bereans and two thiacts ngs about Paul’s message that I think can apply to each and every one of us as we go to church, study the Bible, or check out our favorite blogs.

First, regarding the Bereans, we see that they received the message with “great eagerness.” Several translations use the phrase “readiness of mind.” These weren’t reluctant listeners dragged along to the synagogue by their parents or just there to appear socially acceptable. They wanted to learn. How many of us—self included—are eager for a sermon on Sunday morning or excited about digging into the Word?

Second, and this is the key takeaway, the Bereans didn’t just take Paul at his word and go home. They scrutinized the Scriptures to verify that Paul was speaking the truth. And they didn’t just do it once or with one part of his message. Verse 11 notes they did so “every day.” In other words, their pattern was to listen to Paul preach and then consult the Scriptures for verification. A study of the New Testament shows that the early Church was plagued by heresies and false teachers. Christianity today is no different, with TV evangelists and lifestyle bloggers pushing all sorts of garbage that isn’t Scriptural. Before you rush off and take Joel Osteen or Jen Hatmaker’s words as Gospel, first compare them to the Gospel. And as this passage specifically relates to my blog, please do the same thing. I will strive to make sure everything I say is in accordance with God’s Word, but I’m not infallible. Just because you read it on a “Christian blog,” don’t assume it’s true. The Bible is the Christian’s ultimate plumb bob, his or her source of truth. Everyone else—me, that popular Christian author or speaker, your pastor on Sunday, or that “nudge” of the Holy Spirit—is only a source of truth insomuch as they are in agreement with the Bible. Be like the Bereans—examine the Scriptures to see if what others say is true.

I also want to touch briefly on two points regarding Paul’s message. Luke (the author of Acts) doesn’t tell us specifically what he preached to the Bereans, but we can assume it was similar to the message he had just preached in Thessalonica and which had stirred up trouble and caused the believers there to send Paul and Silas to Berea:

As was his custom, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that the Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead. “This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Messiah,” he said. (Acts 17:2-3)

This again tells us two things:

First, Scripture does contain the answers for verifying truth. Paul’s letters “contain some things that are hard to understand”(2) according to Peter, but his message can be boiled down to his statement above: “This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Messiah.” Note that he was speaking to Jews, in a Jewish synagogue, and they were able to confirm this message by studying the Scriptures—that is, at that time, the Old Testament. We too often view the Old and New Testaments as separate books, with separate messages, and even separate versions of God. They aren’t. They are one, consistent book, one theme. And the Messiah who was revealed in the New Testament was clearly (to the examining heart and mind) proclaimed in the Old Testament.

Second, due to the Bereans’ eager reception of Paul and careful study of his message, Scripture notes that “many of them believed, as did also a number of prominent Greek women and many Greek men.” The gospel message, as Paul put it, “is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.”(3) We see that played out here in Acts. It wasn’t just the Berean Jews who believed, but many Greeks, including those of a prominent or honored position—that is, influential people. Compare that result with what happened in Thessalonica (Acts 17:5-9).

We learn a great lesson from the people of Berea. We ought to receive the gospel with eagerness, and examine and study the Scriptures to confirm the accuracy of our preachers and teachers and writers and bloggers. And if we do, Scripture indeed holds the answers, and those answers have power to transform lives.

I hope you’ll check back frequently. I plan to post “potatoes” on a weekly or semi-weekly basis. But whether or not you ever read my blog again or not, I urge you to follow the model of the Bereans and examine the Scriptures daily!

1) II Peter 3:1
2) II Peter 3:16
3) Romans 1:16

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Forward>>

The Circle of Knowledge - Colossians 1:9-12

In the Cloud - Hebrews 12:1-4

Revival - II Chronicles 7:14

Sealed - Ephesians 1:13-14

The Word - John 1:1-2, 14

Intro - Acts 17:10-12

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