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"Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father" (1 John 2:24).

THE CONCEPT OF “RESTORATION” IS OF FUNDAMENTAL IMPORTANCE IN BOTH THE OLD AND THE NEW TESTAMENTS. We can’t read the Scriptures seriously and not see that if we intend to be God’s faithful people, “restoration” must be a work we engage in. God has never — in any age of the world — left people without any standard which must be adhered to, in both belief and practice. “Restoration” means (a) being reminded of what the standard is, and (b) making constant efforts to bring things back in line with it.

If you have any acquaintance with basic science (or if you have ever looked at your teenager’s bedroom), you are familiar with the law of “entropy”: left to themselves, things descend into greater disorder and randomness. This law is as true in the spiritual realm as it is in the physical. Over time, things degrade. Without constant monitoring, maintenance, and “restoration,” we drift away from the standard God has set. And the descent into disorder is so gradual we often don’t admit to ourselves what is happening.

In our individual lives, we see the need for realignment with the Scriptures more easily, but perhaps we don’t recognize it as much at the congregational level. Local assemblies of Christians must commit themselves to a restoration of the apostolic order. If not, they will descend into greater “entropy” with each passing year — and there is no congregation where this tendency is not present.

If you’re a new Christian, look for a congregation that is committed to the principle of restoration. And if you’ve been a Christian for some time, remind the brothers and sisters where you worship that it is dangerous to be content with their past restoration efforts, as if New Testament Christianity has been fully restored and they can put things on autopilot from now on. Look for elders who are not afraid to lead their brethren in congregational acts of repentance and restoration. And look for brethren who know they need to be warned. “We must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it” (Hebrews 2:1).

"The life of the Church depends on one thing: her return to biblical principles" (Otto Riecker).

Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com

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View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/apostolic-traditions-october-13/

"So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter" (2 Thessalonians 2:15).

IS “TRADITION” A GOOD THING OR A BAD THING? The word is neutral; it simply means “that which has been received.” So tradition can be good or bad, depending on several things: the source from which it was received, the nature of what has been received, and what is done with it after it is received. But the traditions of which Paul spoke — the teachings of Christ revealed to His apostles — are good in the highest sense. And Paul urged the church in Thessalonica to stand firm and hold to these traditions. To depart from them would be to abandon the gospel and depart from Christ.

The teaching of the apostles carried the full weight of Christ’s authority, as we see in the terminology used by Peter: “the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles” (2 Peter 3:2). Thus, the apostles’ teaching was in a special category as far as its authority was concerned (2 Corinthians 10:8; 13:10). It was the definitive guide for churches wherever they might be, revealed directly to the apostles (Galatians 1:11,12) and completing what Christ had begun to teach them during His earthly ministry (John 16:12,13). Not even the apostles themselves could depart from this standard without their souls being in jeopardy (Galatians 1:8,9). And when other people did begin to depart (as predicted in 2 Timothy 4:3,4 and other passages), the apostles exhorted their brethren to remember “what you heard from the beginning” (1 John 2:24). There was an unalterable standard to which they needed to adhere.

The authority of the apostles was not handed down to successors who would hold their office after they died. Once laid, the foundation of the church did not need to be laid again (Ephesians 2:20,21) — the truths that form the foundation laid by the apostles will be available in the Scriptures until Christ returns. So I believe Paul would say to us exactly what he said to the Thessalonians: “stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us.” Return must be the church’s watchword, now as it was back then. Return to Christ Jesus. Return to the apostolic traditions. Return to the Scriptures.

"What does this reestablishment of the authority of the Scriptures and the abolition of all the foreign norms really signify for the church? Is it not, purely and simply, a return to the apostolic type of church?" (Alfred Kuen).

Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com

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View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/apostles-october-12/

". . . built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord" (Ephesians 2:20,21).

THE CHURCH OF WHICH CHRIST IS THE CORNERSTONE HAS A SOLID FOUNDATION: THE APOSTLES AND PROPHETS. Prophecy was important, obviously, but since it was a gift of the Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:8-10), it was imparted by the apostles (Acts 8:14-19). So the work of the apostles was primary (1 Corinthians 12:28). It was to them that Christ gave the “keys of the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 16:19). There would come a time when prophecies (and the other miraculous gifts) would no longer be present in the church (1 Corinthians 13:8,9), but the teaching of the apostles, uniquely revealed to them by God’s Spirit (John 14:25,26; 16:4-15), would serve as the permanent constitution of the Lord’s church. Beginning on Pentecost and continuing afterward until Christ returns, Christians would need to ground their faith and practice in the apostles’ teaching. As John, who was one of the apostles, wrote toward the end of the apostolic age, “Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father” (1 John 2:24).

The apostles were, first and foremost, eyewitnesses of Jesus after His resurrection (Acts 1:21-26). But second, Jesus had said to the apostles alone that they would be guided into “all the truth” by the Holy Spirit (John 16:13). And to guarantee their authority as Christ’s emissaries, they were given distinctive abilities which served as “the signs of a true apostle” (2 Corinthians 12:12).

In the New Testament, the second half of Luke-Acts is often called “Acts of the Apostles,” and that is an excellent name for it. Endowed with nothing less than Christ’s own authority, the apostles were those through whom Christ continued His work after He ascended to heaven. If we think we’re exalting Christ when we downplay the work of the apostles, we’re mistaken. Christ’s work is inseparable from the teaching of those men; it is the very foundation of the church — and the wise will take it utterly seriously.

"This doctrine of Christ and of the apostles, from which the true faith of the primitive church was received, the apostles at first delivered orally, without writing, but later, not by any human counsel but by the will of God, they handed it on in the Scriptures" (Martin Chemnitz).

Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com

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View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/everywhere-every-church-october-11/

"That is why I sent you Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach them everywhere in every church" (1 Corinthians 4:17).

THE THINGS PAUL TAUGHT AS AN APOSTLE, HE TAUGHT EVERYWHERE IN EVERY CHURCH. And the statement Paul makes here is like others in the same letter indicating that the order he imposed on the Lord’s work and worship in Corinth did not vary from what he imposed on any other congregation (1 Corinthians 7:17; 14:36). As he indicated in 16:1, he had the authority, as an apostle, to “direct” the churches to do certain things. His were not just suggestions; they were commands. As an apostle, he could make this kind of statement, which no one but an apostle would have dared to make: “I do not permit . . .” (1 Timothy 2:12).

Not only was Paul’s teaching the same wherever he went; his teaching was the same as that of the other apostles. When he found himself under attack for taking the gospel to the Gentiles, he argued that the other apostles were in agreement with his practice (Galatians 2:6-10). He made it clear that he, like the other apostles, had received the teaching from God by direct revelation (Galatians 1:11,12). Coming from the same source, the teaching of all the apostles would naturally be in agreement (2 Peter 3:15,16).

Have you ever wondered how congregations in the New Testament period resembled one another so strongly in their faith and practice? It was not by following a historical tradition, for in those days the church did not yet have much history. It was not by taking orders from the home office of a denomination or association of churches, for there was no such thing. And it wasn’t by copying one another. It was simply by following the teaching of the apostles. And today, if we go back to the teaching of the apostles and use that as our template, the congregations you and I worship with will resemble those congregations in the very same ways they resembled one another.

The point here is not that likeness is a value in and of itself; rather, it is that when we yield to the authority of Jesus Christ, mediated to us by the teaching of His apostles in the Scriptures, we will be what He wants us to be, both individually and congregationally.

"Market-driven churches? Whatever happened to gospel-driven churches?" (Walter B. Shurden).

Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com

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View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/the-way-october-10/

"But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem" (Acts 9:1,2).

AS THESE VERSES INDICATE, “THE WAY” IS HOW THE CHRISTIAN FAITH WAS KNOWN IN ITS EARLY DAYS. The fact that the faith was known by that description says several things. First, a “way” indicates a manner of living and not merely a set of doctrines. Second, “the Way” is the language of choice and boundaries (since we can’t follow a particular way and still go everywhere else too). And third, the narrowness of one way — the Way — is objectionable to modern culture. Its exclusiveness is thought to be ungracious.

But R. C. Sproul made a perceptive comment when he said, “The question is not, ‘Why is there only one way to God?’ but ‘Why is there even one way?’” It is a token of how gracious God is that He opened up any way for us to come back at all, when justice could have been served by simply letting us reap the harvest we had sown. Seen from this perspective, it seems outrageous of us, guilty of treason and standing before the King, to complain that He is narrow and judgmental if He does not allow us to reconcile ourselves to Him in any way we think is appropriate.

There is also another thing to ponder. We often frame the question of “the Way” in terms of our journey, when in reality, the better analogy is just the reverse. If we are reconciled to God, that will not be the result of our making some self-discovered “journey” that got us to heaven; it will be the result of God coming to our rescue. He is the One who takes the initiative, reaching down to us in our lost condition and offering us His saving hand. If He does that at all, it will certainly be on His terms. Being who He is, and having the nature that He does, He cannot be other than what He is. He could not reconcile Himself to us in simply any way that “felt good” to Him; it would have to be in a way that is consistent with His divine attributes, which are fixed and very definite. So let’s quit talking about “man’s journey to God.” It is God who condescends to save us; and humility on our part will gladly accept “the Way” provided by Him, which is through obedience to the gospel of His Son.

"God cannot come to me in any way but his own way" (Oswald Chambers).

Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com

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View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/people-for-gods-name-october-9/

"Simeon has related how God first visited the Gentiles, to take from them a people for his name" (Acts 15:14).

A PERSON’S “NAME” COMMUNICATES HIS CHARACTER OR INNER NATURE. Hence, “a good name is better than precious ointment” (Ecclesiastes 7:1). In the case of God’s name, of course, much more is involved than with any human name. God’s name stands for not only His character but also His power — especially His power to deliver and to save. When the apostles were pressured by the Jewish authorities, they said concerning Jesus Christ, “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

In Acts 15:14, when James said that God had dealt with the Gentiles so as to take from them “a people for his name,” what did he mean? In the Old Testament, the expression “a people for his name” always referred to the Israelites; here we are told that it is also from among the Gentiles that some will be His people. But what does it mean to be a people “for his name”? I am still pondering this, but at least two things are clear to me so far:

(1) GOD’S PEOPLE “WEAR” HIS NAME. If we are called by God’s name that means we belong to Him. More important, it means that we partake of His character (2 Peter 1:4). In heaven, God’s people will have been perfected completely in the godliness of their character — “and his name will be on their foreheads” (Revelation 22:4).

(2) GOD’S PEOPLE “BEAR” HIS NAME. In a sense, God has put His reputation in the hands of those who are “a people for his name.” Knowing that the world is watching, we live so as to reflect favorably on God’s character and His power (Matthew 5:13-16).

The glory of the gospel is that God has such a people as this: a people for his name. Whether Jewish or Gentile, we can be a part of that people by obeying the gospel. In Christ, not only is our alienation from God removed, but so is the alienation between Jew and Gentile (Galatians 3:27,28). No matter who we are, we have an equal need for God’s forgiveness, and in Christ, we receive that forgiveness on exactly the same basis. No one receives favoritism, and no one is excluded. May the good news be both your joy and mine.

"God's concern is for His name, His glory, His people, His unfolding eternal purpose and for His Kingdom" (Alistair Begg).

Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com

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View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/will-be-their-god-october-8/

"For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people" (Hebrews 8:10).

THIS VERSE IS PART OF THE HEBREW WRITER’S QUOTATION OF JEREMIAH 31:31-34, WHICH IS THE LONGEST OLD TESTAMENT QUOTATION IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. For today’s study, let’s focus on God’s statement, “I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”

In the Old Testament, God was the God of the Jews. There were certainly people outside of Israel who worshiped Him as the true God, but at Mount Sinai God entered into a covenant with Israel that set up a special relationship between Him and that group of people (Exodus 19:1-6). This was in fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3), and it was to prepare Israel to be the physical family through whom the Messiah would be born into the world — the One anticipated all the way back in Genesis 3:15 who would crush Satan and reverse the damage done by sin.

Even the “old” covenant itself had spoken of a “new” one that God would put into place: “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant” (Jeremiah 31:31). This new covenant would be “not like” (v.32) the old one; it would be different. Some things seem similar, however. In the new covenant, according to v.33, God would say, “I will be their God, and they shall be my people,” but He had said the same thing to Israel (Leviticus 26:12). We need to consider carefully how this language might be different in the new covenant as opposed to the old.

For one thing, “I will be their God” had reference in the old covenant to Israel, but in the new it would encompass people from every nation. And amazingly, even this had been anticipated in the Jewish prophecies of the Messiah’s reign, like Daniel 7:13,14.

But “I will be their God” would also have a more personal meaning in the new covenant. God would not just be the deity acknowledged by a group of people as the true God — He would be the God whom they actually loved and worshiped and trusted. In Latin terms, He would be their God de facto as well as de jure.

"The Greek [in Hebrews 8:10] expresses it cryptically -- 'I will be to them as God, and they will be to me as people.' The relationship was to be intimate and mutual" (Donald Guthrie).

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View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/people-own-possession-october-7/

"But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy" (1 Peter 2:9,10).

IN THIS TEXT IN THE KING JAMES VERSION, CHRISTIANS ARE DESCRIBED AS “A PECULIAR PEOPLE.” One of the meanings of “peculiar” is “belonging distinctively to one person,” so the idea is not that Christians are odd or strange (although some of us certainly are); it is that they are the unique possession of God. Here are several more recent translations: God’s “special people” (CEV), “people who belong to God” (ERV), and “a people of his own” (NET).

Peter’s words, of course, are a reference to what God had said to Israel after He had brought them out of their long bondage in Egypt. Gathered at Mount Sinai, Israel heard God say to them through Moses, “Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exodus 19:5,6).

Even in the case of Israel, God prefaced His statement with an “if.” Physical parentage might be automatic, but only “if you will indeed obey my voice” would they remain a part of God’s “treasured possession.” And if that was true then, it is even more true now. God has a people, to be sure, but faithfulness is required.

The people who are God’s own possession have accepted His plan to restore them to His glorious image (2 Corinthians 3:18) and turn them into a people through whom He can accomplish the initial purpose He had when creating mankind. For this process to occur, the alienation of sin must be removed — and it is God’s choice that this reconciliation can only be done through the atonement of His Son, Jesus Christ. But in Christ, may we not undervalue what it is possible for us to be: a people set aside for God to possess. There is no higher privilege than to be a part of this people.

"All who believe that the Creator revealed Himself to His creatures confidently look to that revelation for His purpose. Whatever His purpose may be, we believe man's greatest good can be realized in achieving that end. In God's Word . . . those who through God's grace seek to satisfy His divine purpose are called the 'people of God' in a very special sense" (Robert F. Turner).

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View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/they-will-be-his-people-october-6/

"And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God'" (Revelation 21:3).

WHEN GOD TOOK UPON HIMSELF HUMAN FLESH, HE DWELLED (“TABERNACLED”) AMONG US FOR A WHILE. The Gospel of John makes this point in 1:14, where it says that in Jesus Christ, God “lived here with us” (CEV). This is a staggering thought, that God would dwell among human beings, even those forgiven of their sins and living faithfully unto Him. And yet this is the language used to describe God’s relationship with His people. The words are used of Israel in the Old Testament (Leviticus 26:11,12), they are used of the church today (2 Corinthians 6:16), and they are used, in their most far-reaching sense, of the perfect relationship God will have with the redeemed in heaven (Revelation 21:3).

It can’t be emphasized enough that God’s people are a people. In today’s culture, where it’s so easy to get trapped in our own personal silos, we need to keep in mind that those who are in a right relationship with God are involved in something much bigger than their own private fellowship with Him. For one thing, there is the local congregation of Christians to think about, the welfare of which each of us needs to be actively concerned about. But beyond that, there is the body of Christ in its universal sense (Ephesians 1:22,23; Colossians 1:18). And we need not be totally agnostic as to who those people are. They are those who have obeyed the gospel of Christ and are adhering to the New Testament. That standard is not so hard to understand that we can’t look around us and recognize people in various localities as being God’s people — or not.

Above all, we need to keep the focus on God and His eternal purposes. If He has a people, which He certainly does in Jesus Christ, it was not without purpose that He made them His people. On our side of the relationship, the promise that “they will be his people” was not made to give us a merely honorary position. God dwells with us in order that we may know Him — and knowing Him, that we might experience the joy of living within His wisdom.

"The greatest blessing of heaven will be unhindered fellowship with God himself. The goal of God's covenant, 'Immanuel (God with us)' in Isaiah 7:14, foreshadowed in the Old Testament tabernacle and temple, will be achieved" (Dennis E. Johnson).

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View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/ransomed-people-october-5/

"And they sang a new song, saying, 'Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation'" (Revelation 5:9).

THE LAMB THAT WAS SLAIN! Reminiscent of the Passover lamb in Israel, Jesus was a greater sacrifice, enabling God to justify mankind from its sins. John the Baptist said on one occasion as he saw Jesus coming toward him, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). In Revelation, no one but this Lamb is worthy to open the scroll containing God’s purposes for mankind (Revelation 5:4,5). And He is qualified to do so — “for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation” (v.9).

To “ransom” is to redeem. When people are in trouble and can’t deliver themselves, a redeemer is one who offers to pay the price to solve the problem for them. So it was that by offering His life, Jesus Christ ransomed us. He allowed us to be forgiven and released from the penalty of death. As a result of the ransom price being paid, our chains are now broken. God has a people who once were slaves but now are free to belong to Him in the most special sense. It is “for God” that we’ve been ransomed.

Revelation 5:9 emphasizes that this ransomed people will be made up of those “from every tribe and language and people and nation.” Jesus had said to the Jews, “I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd” (John 10:16).

There are many scriptural ways Christians may view themselves, but none is any more beneficial than to think of ourselves as having been ransomed. It is dangerous to forget that we are only able to be God’s people because He rescued us. If gratitude for grace is the most motivating force in the world, then Christians should surely be the most motivated people in the world, for they are reminded, at least once a week when they partake of the Lord’s Supper, that when God delivered them from their slavery to sin, it was an act of sheer grace. It would be a hardhearted person indeed who could know this and not respond with both awestruck reverence and the gratitude which leads to faithful obedience.

"Grace is love that cares and stoops and rescues" (John R. W. Stott).

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View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/washing-water-word-october-4/

". . . that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word" (Ephesians 5:26).

TO ACCOMPLISH THE PURPOSES OF CHRIST, THE CHURCH MUST BE “SANCTIFIED.” This word sounds like nothing more than religious lingo to some, but its concept is important and not hard to understand. To be “sanctified” is to be set apart for special use.

For example, I have an iron skillet in which I have never made anything but cornbread. When I bought it long ago, I “set it apart” for that purpose, and it has had to be content to be “different” from my other skillets. To maintain the magnificence of the cornbread that is cooked in it, it simply cannot come into contact with certain other things. (Knowing skillet nature as I do, I am sure my other skillets accuse the cornbread skillet of being self-righteous.)

Now, to be very serious, it was that He might “sanctify” her that Christ gave Himself up for the church. The whole plan by which Christ was able to have a “set apart” people depended on His dying for those people. Not in fifty lifetimes could any of us have kept enough mitzvoth (“commandments”) for even one of our sins to be forgiven. The Messiah had to die for our atonement (Isaiah 53:4-6).

Also in Ephesians 5:26, we see that Christ “cleansed her by the washing of water with the word.” This is a reference to the baptism (immersion in water) in which all who are now in Christ came to be so (Romans 6:3; Galatians 3:27), as a result of hearing the word of the Lord concerning the forgiveness of their sins. Paul makes the point in triplicate in 1 Corinthians 6:11 where, after referring to those whose lives were given to sin, he said, “And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” How, then, does Christ sanctify the church? He does it individually. One day the process will be finished, but only for those who have entered that process individually — in the here and now.

"We note that some seem to think there is a future time when, by some process undefined, Christ will cleanse the present filthy, sinful church. Current imperfections are thus excused. We beg to differ with this traditional interpretation. We do not question the future reception of the church as the bride of Christ (2 Corinthians 11:2,3; Revelation 21:2), but we believe the 'setting apart' and 'cleansing' is now taking place, and has been in process ever since the gospel of Christ was first preached" (Robert F. Turner).

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View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/church-in-philippi-october-3/

"Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons" (Philippians 1:1).

IT IS OBVIOUS THAT PAUL HAD A SPECIAL LOVE FOR THE CHRISTIANS IN THE CITY OF PHILIPPI. The church there had begun in unusual circumstances (Acts 16:11-40), and the brethren had kept in touch with Paul, helping and encouraging him generously. In the text above, we have the salutation of a letter that Paul and Timothy sent to that church. Philippians 1:1 is a good snapshot of what a local congregation of Christians was in the days of the New Testament.

THE SAINTS IN CHRIST JESUS WHO ARE AT PHILIPPI. As we noticed yesterday, “saints” is one of the ways the Lord’s people are referred to in the New Testament. The saints were not a special group of Christians; all Christians were saints. But the word “saint” points to something special about the identity and character of Christians: as Christ’s people, they are “sanctified” to Him. That is, they are set apart exclusively for His purposes. Certainly, to be sanctified involves moral purity, but the idea is not limited to that. In every possible way, the saint is to belong uniquely to the Lord and to be held in reserve for use in the accomplishment of His purposes. In Philippi, there were such people. They had obeyed the gospel and received the forgiveness of their past sins. Beginning at that point, they were living as disciples of Christ and doing His work in the city of Philippi. They were the Lord’s church in that place.

WITH THE OVERSEERS AND DEACONS. This text encapsulates what the New Testament teaches about the makeup of the local church. In the Lord’s wisdom, it was simple but very effective. The Christians or “saints” as a whole were led by “overseers” and served by “deacons.” The overseers, known elsewhere as “elders” or “shepherds” (1 Peter 5:1-4), were responsible for the leadership of the congregation, and the “deacons” (or “servants”) were appointed to assist the church in specific ways. A simple plan? Yes. But this was the church in Philippi — and three things resulted: the Lord was glorified, the church was strengthened, and the city heard the gospel.

"A Christian church is a body or collection of persons, voluntarily associated together, professing to believe what Christ teaches, to do what Christ enjoins, to imitate his example, cherish his spirit, and make known his gospel to others" (R. F. Sample).

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View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/church-in-corinth-october-2/

"To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours" (1 Corinthians 1:2).

TODAY AND TOMORROW, WE WILL BE LOOKING AT TWO CHURCHES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. First, we turn our attention to the fascinating group which Paul addressed as “the church of God that is in Corinth.” Together, the two letters that we have from Paul to Corinth take up more pages in the New Testament than we have from him to any other congregation. Notice how he refers to them:

THE CHURCH OF GOD THAT IS IN CORINTH. The “church of God” refers to those whom He has saved. As a church (an assembly or collection of saved ones), the Christians in Corinth belonged to God.

THOSE SANCTIFIED IN CHRIST JESUS, CALLED TO BE SAINTS. To be “sanctified” means to be reserved for a special purpose. In Corinth, then, the Lord had some “saints” — people who had answered the call of the gospel to be dedicated solely to His purposes in Christ.

WITH ALL THOSE WHO IN EVERY PLACE CALL UPON THE NAME OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. The Christians in Corinth were not the only saints in the world. As followers of Jesus, the brothers and sisters there would have felt a kinship to those “in every place” who called upon the name of the Lord, even if they had never met many of those people face to face. And when they engaged in “the work of the Lord” (1 Corinthians 15:58), they would have known that many others were doing the very same work in other localities.

Perhaps the thing that strikes us most dramatically about the Corinthians is that Paul addresses them as “saints” despite the seriousness of their problems. This illustrates how the term “saint” has changed since the first century. In the New Testament, a saint was a person who was “in Christ”; he or she was simply a Christian, one of the Lord’s people. And the defining characteristic of the Lord’s people is not that they have reached a stage of sinless perfection in the here and now, but that, having obeyed the initial terms of the gospel, they are now living under the mercy of God. Forgiven of their past and now having access to God’s grace, they are in the process of being remade into creatures that will be with God in eternity.

"A saint is a creature of vast possibilities, knit into shape by the ruling personality of God" (Oswald Chambers).

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"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead" (1 Peter 1:3).

WITH HOPE, ALMOST NO OBSTACLE IS INSURMOUNTABLE, BUT WITHOUT HOPE, IT DOESN’T TAKE MUCH TO DESTROY US. That being true, it should stir us deeply to hear Peter tell us in this text about what has been made possible in Jesus Christ: a living hope.

It is only by God’s “great mercy” that the hope Peter speaks of has become a possibility for sinful people like us. Having rebelled even once against God’s will by doing that which we knew to be wrong, we have forfeited the privilege of fellowship with God. Alienated from Him, not all the righteousness we could exhibit would be enough to reestablish a state of perfect holiness on our part. So when God opened up the door of reconciliation, He did something we did not deserve to have done for us. And mark it well: it was “through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” that this happened. Everything about the gospel of Christ depends on the fact that His resurrection really did take place historically.

In v.4, Peter continued by saying that the object of our hope is “an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.” If this is true — and as an eyewitness of Jesus after His resurrection, Peter was in a position to know the facts of the case — it means the Christian’s hope is in an absolutely unique category. There is nothing in this world that won’t have to be given up when we die, and even before we die, there is nothing we can have or do that isn’t perishable, tentative, and subject to disappointment. But unlike all these treasures, our hope in Christ is “pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay” (NLT).

Finally, Peter says in v.5 that we “by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” Christ’s resurrection is proof that God can be counted on to help us. His power, through our faith, will guard and keep us until our hope is finally realized. So when discouragement hits us (as it surely will), one thing is to be recalled: the resurrection of Christ.

"If Jesus rose from the dead, then you have to accept all that he said; if he didn’t rise from the dead, then why worry about any of what he said? The issue on which everything hangs is not whether or not you like his teaching but whether or not he rose from the dead" (Timothy Keller).

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"Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, 'There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom. Their laws are different from those of every other people, and they do not keep the king's laws, so that it is not to the king's profit to tolerate them. If it please the king, let it be decreed that they be destroyed'" (Esther 3:8,9).

ONE OF THE UGLIEST REALITIES OF HUMAN HISTORY IS THE PERSECUTION OF GROUPS OF PEOPLE. Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised at this, since strife is the first and most obvious result of sin (Gen. 3:12; 4:8; 6:11; etc.). Still, it is a sad fact in this world that discord between groups of people often results in persecution. As we see in the example in Esther, the pretext for persecution is usually the charge that some group has become a threat to “us.” Wanting to get rid of the Jews, Haman knew exactly which argument to make to the king: “It is not to the king’s profit to tolerate them.” In other words, they are a menace to our society, so do away with them.

The group seen as disadvantageous to society may be a religious or ethnic group, or the difference may be racial, ideological, or economic. The particular difference doesn’t matter. All it takes is for one group to acquire enough power that it can look upon another group as being “others” and exercise its power to marginalize them, if not exterminate them altogether. This is simply a fact of the world we live in. Christians are certainly not the only ones who have ever been persecuted, and sadly, they (nominal Christians, at least) have sometimes been the persecutors. But anyplace where Christians are seen as being socially disadvantageous, persecution can happen.

So if you obey the gospel of Christ, you should take seriously the prospect of persecution (Acts 14:21,22). In the United States (at least for the time being), it is not likely that you would be in physical danger, but as Christians become a shrinking segment of the population — and our views become despised by the mainstream culture — it is likely that you will be mocked and demeaned. And it may be that this is, for many of us, the threat we fear most of all. Many people would die for the Lord who would not stand up to the threat of social shame. So let us pray for the courage not only to be put to death for the Lord but also to be detested and made fun of.

"A man who has faith must be prepared not only to be a martyr, but to be a fool" (G. K. Chesterton).

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"Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord, together with his entire household. And many of the Corinthians hearing Paul believed and were baptized" (Acts 18:8).

THERE IS IN THE NEW TESTAMENT A STRONG LINK BETWEEN BELIEF AND BAPTISM. I would go so far as to say that the link is inseparable. The only people who were baptized were those who believed in Jesus Christ (Mark 16:15,16) and had repented of the sins they were seeking to be forgiven of (Acts 2:37,38). Their baptism was preceded by the “good confession” (1 Timothy 6:12,13), an oral affirmation that, yes, they were in fact believers in Christ (Romans 10:9,10). As to who was to be baptized, the New Testament is clear.

Without faith, baptism only gets a person wet. It is not a ritualistic act, effective regardless of what is going on in the recipient’s heart. Rather, its efficacy depends on “faith in the powerful working of God” (Colossians 2:12) — the active ingredient is trust in God: dependence on what He has done, and also what He will do.

“Infant baptism” is the act of “baptizing” (not really baptizing but only sprinkling) infants shortly after they are born. This having been done, it is said that the children are now “Christian” children, rather than “unbaptized” or “unchristian.” This is more common in Europe, where most countries have a state church. Birth in one of those countries means that you are a citizen of that country politically, and religiously, you are enrolled in that country’s national church. In such cases, your “baptism” is often a mere formality. A very secular Englishman once told me, “We only go to church twice in life: when we’re hatched and when we’re dispatched.” He made that remark humorously, but even so, he seemed to be glad not to be one of the “unbaptized” in the world. As we have seen, however, in the New Testament, baptism was meaningless without faith.

I hesitate to use an entire page to talk about infant baptism. But unfortunately, there are many misconceptions about baptism in people’s minds — and this is one of the most prevalent. Yet it only takes reading the New Testament to see what baptism was originally: the appeal of a believer for a good conscience (1 Peter 3:21).

"Those who were baptized [in the New Testament] were men and women who were able to make a decision to commit their lives to Jesus. This and other requirements for baptism indicate that baptism is for those old enough to know what they are doing" (Owen Olbricht).

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"Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 28:19).

GOD IS ONE, BUT HIS UNITY IS A TRI-UNITY. That is to say, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are all parts of the oneness of God. While this challenges even our best efforts to understand, it is clearly what the Scriptures reveal about God. We are not free to dispense with the unity of God, but neither are we free to deny that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all parts of the one God.

THE UNITY OF GOD. The first text that comes to mind is probably Moses’ declaration: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one” (Deuteronomy 6:4). But many other texts also affirm this, in both the Old and the New Testaments (Malachi 2:10; 1 Corinthians 8:4-6; etc.). So let us not waver: God — and God alone — is God.

THE COMPLEXITY OF GOD. Even in the Old Testament, God’s personhood was not simple. At Sodom, “the Lord” on the scene that morning rained down fire from “the Lord” still in heaven (Genesis 19:24). This is consistent with the New Testament, where the Father, Son, and Spirit are seen doing different things simultaneously but in different locations, as at Jesus’ baptism (Matthew 3:16,17).

People often attempt analogies to show how God could be three Persons and still be one God, but with deep theological truths, analogy-making is often dangerous. It is best for us to simply affirm what the Scriptures teach. It is our privilege to be the recipients of every bit of information about Himself that God has revealed.

We must courageously accept God’s self-disclosure, even the parts that seem to us not to “fit.” It would be wrong to delete any of it for the sake of logic or harmony. Yet in addition to being courageous, we must also be humble. It is a part of the majesty of God that He is complex beyond our ability to analyze or describe. As tempting as it is to reject complexities our minds can’t handle, we need to humble ourselves — in both wonder and gratitude — before the truth about God. Even in eternity His deep and various nature will be beyond our creaturely understanding. Yet our part will be not to tame Him but to enjoy Him . . . in all His diversity.

"In fact, it is spiritually healthy for us to acknowledge openly that God's very being is far greater than we can ever comprehend. This humbles us before God and draws us to worship him without reservation" (Wayne Grudem).

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"Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads" (Revelation 22:1-4).

WE DON’T KNOW WHAT KIND OF INTERACTION ADAM AND EVE HAD WITH GOD IN THE GARDEN PRIOR TO THEIR SIN. It seems they may have had a direct, face-to-face fellowship with Him. But whatever it was, they lost a great deal of their contact with God when, after they decided to reject His rule over them, they were cast out of the Garden. They became alienated from their Creator.

One morning not long ago, I was reading in Exodus 33 where Moses pleaded with God, “Please show me your glory” (v.18). But God said, “You cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live” (v.20). However, God agreed to hide Moses in a cleft in the rock while He passed by. “Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen” (v.23).

Given the tragic consequences of mankind’s sin, there is no more precious promise in the Scriptures than the promise of what heaven will be like for those who have been redeemed and reconciled to God: “They will see his face” (Revelation 22:4).

Whoever you are and whether you even believe that there is a God who created you, I want to suggest that you long to see the face of God. We all long for God, whether we realize that He is the object of our longings or not. Created in His image, we are hard-wired to need Him — and to need Him deeply. If, as I hope, Adam and Eve will be in heaven (if they are, it will be the result of the sacrifice Christ made to enable their sins to be forgiven), don’t you know they will be thrilled to see the face of the God they foolishly turned their backs on so long ago? And don’t you know that the best part of heaven for them, as for every one of the saved, will be the fact that God’s face is the face of a Friend?

"Deep calleth unto deep, and though polluted and landlocked by the mighty disaster theologians call the Fall, the soul senses its origin and longs to return to its source" (A. W. Tozer).

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"Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, 'The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever'" (Revelation 11:15).

THIS TEXT CONTAINS ONE OF THE MOST MAJESTIC STATEMENTS IN THE SCRIPTURES. It appears halfway through Revelation, the last book in the Bible, at a point where God’s enemies have been defeated: “the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ.” The last half of Revelation recapitulates the story of triumph portrayed in the first “movement” (to put it in musical terms) and climaxes with a fervent expression of eternal hope.

Following the statement of Revelation 11:15, this song of praise is given before God’s throne: “We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, who is and who was, for you have taken your great power and begun to reign. The nations raged, but your wrath came, and the time for the dead to be judged, and for rewarding your servants, the prophets and saints, and those who fear your name, both small and great, and for destroying the destroyers of the earth” (vv.17,18). These phrases lead me to believe that the great announcement of God’s victory in Revelation 11:15-19 refers not to His rule over the nations of men right now (though He certainly does rule over them), but to His ultimate victory — a victory that has not yet been finalized.

The outcome of the war, of course, is not in doubt. But since Satan’s power has not yet been completely taken away, Paul could speak of the “end” when Christ “delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death” (1 Corinthians 15:24-26).

That triumph is going to take place. But until then, what is our response to the lordship of Christ? He is “longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9 NKJV). However, He has promised that He will return. When He does, there will be an accounting — a rendering of His judgment upon our decision concerning His kingship. If we need to change our decision, let’s do that. While we can.

"In the day when all men will stand before God, the significant question for each of us will no longer be what we think of Christ, but what he thinks of us" (Elva J. Hoover).

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"For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling" (2 Corinthians 5:1,2).

HEAVEN IS A TOPIC THE CHRISTIAN FINDS IT IMPOSSIBLE TO BE INDIFFERENT ABOUT. If he accepts the account of the gospel given in the New Testament, it is a subject he is intensely interested in, because he realizes that eternity with God is what the gospel is primarily about. It’s the reason he became a Christian in the first place, and without that hope, the gospel is a cruel fraud.

Paul spoke of our physical bodies as a “tent” or “tabernacle,” which is a temporary dwelling. And knowing (as we all do in our more honest moments) that this life is hard and heartbreaking, he said, “In this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling.” He looked forward to eternity with a longing that he described as “groaning.” Paul had more than a mild interest in heaven.

Just a few verses later, he said that “while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord” (v.6). While Paul was obviously willing to stay in this world and work as an evangelist as long as the Lord wanted him to, he did not hesitate to say what his preference was: “Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord” (v.8). As he put it in his letter to the Philippians, “My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better” (Philippians 1:23).

For one thing, our lives in this world wear us out. We grow weary. If we’re as busy as we ought to be, we become “exhausted” in the sense of being “drained” or “depleted.” So one reason the Christian looks forward to heaven so longingly is that it is the rest God has prepared for His people. In the visions which John recorded in Revelation, he said, “And I heard a voice from heaven saying, ‘Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’ ‘Blessed indeed,’ says the Spirit, ‘that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!’” (Revelation 14:13).

Until we “put on our heavenly dwelling,” however, we press toward the goal (Philippians 3:14). God helped Israel through the wilderness, and He will help us also. If the journey is hard, that will just make our home all the sweeter when we get there.

"The Promised Land always lies on the other side of a wilderness" (Havelock Ellis).

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"Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory" (2 Timothy 2:10).

BY THE TIME PAUL WROTE HIS SECOND LETTER TO TIMOTHY, HE HAD SUFFERED A GREAT DEAL OVER A PERIOD OF MANY YEARS. And why had he done so? In the text above, he said that his labor had been motivated by a desire to see others “obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.” The glory that awaits, of course, is glorious just because it is God’s glory. In a similar passage in Romans 5:1,2, Paul had said, “Since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”

Contrary to what we often hear today, this “eternal glory” is what the gospel of Christ is primarily about. Yes, those who have this hope in Christ will do all they can to alleviate suffering in the world, but if we downplay — or leave out altogether — the main point of the gospel, we have not shown true love to our neighbor. On this battlefield we call “life,” people do have many needs, and it’s sometimes hard to know what kind of help to render first. But God’s glory is far and away the most important need that anyone has. More attention needs to be paid to the greatness of that need.

The “eternal glory” of which Paul spoke is worth more than anything else we will ever have the privilege of enjoying. That is not to say the joys of this world are trivial, for they are very good. But since we lack in this world the main thing we were created for — full, complete, perfect fellowship with our Creator — any of the joys available to us right now must be classified as lesser joys. Even if we could have them all, they wouldn’t come close to the one thing waiting for the faithful when Christ returns: eternal glory. Paul was not wrong to spend his lifetime working so others might have that. And we are not fools if we can say, as he did, “Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13,14).

"I would not give one moment of heaven for all the joys and riches of the world, even if it lasted for thousands and thousands of years" (Martin Luther).

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"And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved" (Acts 2:46,47).

THE LAST SECTION OF ACTS 2 INDICATES HOW IMPORTANT THE COLLECTIVE ASPECT OF THE GOSPEL WAS TO THE EARLIEST CHRISTIANS IN JERUSALEM. Their “together” activities were not the sum total of their lives in Christ; nevertheless, they entered into this part of the gospel with great engagement and enthusiasm.

Today, religiosity has been cut off from spirituality. Disillusioned by “organized religion,” many wish to be spiritual but not religious. In practical terms, this means they do not “go to church,” preferring to have a relationship with God that is strictly private. Yet in the New Testament, in texts like Acts 2:41-47, we see Christians giving heed to both parts of the faith. To be blunt, we can’t be Christians without doing what they did, which they did under the direction of the apostles.

There is something else that must be said, and I fear to say it, but I believe I must. If we resist the idea of “church” because it is so frustrating and messy, that is probably an indication of how much we stand in need of it. Yes, it certainly would be easier not to have to adjust ourselves to other people, submit to them, and work out the inevitable conflicts that arise. But that is precisely the point. If there is one thing the gospel wants to do, it is to teach us humility — and the local congregation is a big part of what the Lord has designed for that purpose. There are many things about C. S. Lewis that I disagree with, but I have always appreciated the honesty with which he saw that he needed to “go to church.” So if you find the “people” part of Christianity a turnoff, I invite you to contemplate the quotation below. Then look in the mirror and ask yourself why the spiritual-but-not-religious approach is so appealing to you. While you’re doing that, I’ll go look in my mirror too.

"When I first became a Christian . . . I thought that I could do it on my own, by retiring to my rooms and reading theology, and I wouldn’t go to the churches and gospel halls . . . But as I went on I saw the great merit of it. I came up against different people of quite different outlooks and different education, and then gradually my conceit just began peeling off. I realized that the hymns (which were just sixth-rate music) were, nevertheless, being sung with devotion and benefit by an old saint in elastic-side boots in the opposite pew, and then you realize that you aren’t fit to clean those boots" (C. S. Lewis).

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". . . that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory. In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise" (Ephesians 1:12,13 NKJV).

IN THE NEW TESTAMENT, THE ACT OF BECOMING A CHRISTIAN IS DESCRIBED IN SEVERAL WAYS, EACH OF THEM INSTRUCTIVE. One of these is “trusting (or hoping) in Christ.” In the NKJV, Paul spoke of the Jews as those “who first trusted in Christ,” and then he said that Gentiles in places like Ephesus had “also trusted.” For today’s meditation, let’s think about what it means to trust in Christ.

If you compare several translations of v.12, you will notice that many render the verb not as “trusted” but as “hoped.” But while the literal meaning of the Greek verb is to “hope before” or to “be the first to hope,” the ideas of hope and trust are so intertwined that “trusted in Christ” is not a bad translation.

Faith, trust, and hope all have to do with intangible (“unseen”) realities, usually because these are in the future. Based on evidence, we believe that certain things are true and that certain things are going to happen. Belief engenders trust, and trust is the thing that makes hope possible. Faith is, as the Hebrew writer described it, ”the assurance of things hoped for” (Hebrews 11:1).

There is no better example of faith than Abraham. “Under utterly hopeless circumstances he hopefully believed . . . being absolutely certain that whatever promise [God] is bound by He is able also to make good” (Romans 4:18-21 Weymouth). So today, when we obey the gospel we trust in Christ. Believing God’s promise of salvation, we stake our lives on the reality of the promise.

If you’re like me, you may have found that trusting Christ is an ongoing work. Yes, we know that Christ has proven His trustworthiness. And yes, when we were baptized we made a commitment to trust Him. But life wears us down, and our trust runs low. So we have to go back, remember the foundations of our faith, and remake our commitment to trust Him. As life unfolds, our decision to trust has to be repeated frequently and fervently. That’s not a lack of faith — it’s how serious commitments always work.

"Relying on God has to begin all over again every day as if nothing had yet been done" (C. S. Lewis).

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"And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12).

JESUS WAS BORN WHILE AUGUSTUS CAESAR WAS RULER OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. Augustus was seventy-six when he died in AD 14 on the afternoon of August 19. Far away in the provincial hinterlands that afternoon, Jesus of Nazareth would have been about eighteen or nineteen. Augustus was succeeded by his stepson Tiberias, who was on the throne later when Jesus, then about thirty-three years old, was sentenced by the Roman governor Pontius Pilate to die by crucifixion just outside the city of Jerusalem.

The era of Augustus and Tiberias (and for quite some time afterward) was an age of boiling religious ferment, a time when many people throughout the empire were wondering about the “salvation of the soul.” Wherever you went, there were orators, teachers, scholars, professors, philosophers, prophets, priests, rabbis, miracle workers, magicians — and even many “messiahs” — who claimed to teach how death could be defeated and eternal life obtained. Every one of them was right, and all the others wrong — or so they claimed — and many of them had devoted disciples.

Into this mix came Jesus, a nobody whose only credential was a rural pedigree from despised Galilee. He claimed, like many others, to teach the only way to salvation, but even His message of being sent by God to die for mankind and then be resurrected, thereby procuring salvation, was a narrative familiar in Greco-Roman mythology. Hearing Jesus, a cynic would have said, “Oh no! Not another dying-and-rising-savior cult. The last thing we need is one more guru claiming to teach the ‘only way’ to eternal life.”

In those days, there were many savior gods in whose “name” salvation was offered, based on their alleged resurrection. Yet Jesus’ resurrection was the only one backed up by multiple eyewitnesses — people who would never have submitted to brutal martyrdom if they knew their story was not true. The apostles, when threatened, never backed down: the gospel is true and “there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” Others may help with lesser troubles, but they knew only Christ can get us to heaven.

"A person may go to heaven without health, without riches, without honors, without learning, without friends; but he can never go there without Christ" (John Dyer).

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"But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life" (Jude 20,21).

LIVING IN A HARD WORLD, THERE ARE SOME DECISIONS THAT HAVE TO BE MADE. If we have obeyed the gospel of Christ, we must decide to grow strong enough to meet life’s challenges. It is good that we have started the journey, but we need to be doing what Jude recommended: “building yourselves up in your most holy faith.” The apostle Peter wrote that it is by the addition of certain strong virtues to our faith that “there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:5-11), and he said that we must “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18).

KEEP YOURSELVES IN THE LOVE OF GOD. There is a sense in which God’s power must keep us (1 Peter 1:5), but there is also a sense in which we must keep ourselves (2 Peter 1:10). Paul’s advice to young Timothy was this: “Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers” (1 Timothy 4:16). It is, above all, in the love of God that we must keep ourselves — determining not to leave its shelter or the commands that flow from it (1 John 2:4-6).

WAITING FOR THE MERCY OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST THAT LEADS TO ETERNAL LIFE. As we keep ourselves in the love of God, one thing is always uppermost in our minds: Christ is coming back. Even though the Christian stays busy helping others in the here and now and sharing with them the gospel of salvation, it is not wrong to say that the Christian’s life is one of waiting. And John says, “Everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure” (1 John 3:3).

Life will always have its ups and downs. Although we know God’s purposes will surely be accomplished in the end, what will happen to us between now and then has not been revealed. But regardless of what happens, there is one thing we can always do: we can determine that we will be faithful. We can keep ourselves in the love of God. That is the decision we can — and must — make. And it is not just a one-time decision. It must be made continually.

"God has not called me to be successful; he has called me to be faithful" (Teresa of Calcutta).

Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com

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"For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers" (Romans 8:29).

SOMETIMES WE SET OUR SIGHTS TOO LOW. Even in our relationship to God (which we say is the highest of all pursuits in life) we settle for far less than what is really offered to us in Jesus Christ.

For example, think about our concept of “Christlikeness.” When we think of “Christianity,” too often we think only of how it can make us nicer people. What we need, however, is not merely forgiveness but transformation — at the deepest level, from the inside out. The gospel recognizes this, and to become “Christlike” is not merely to become more well-behaved. It is to have imparted to us a new order of existence in which we become nothing less than “sons of God.” Before you underestimate what Christ intends to do to you if you obey the gospel, ponder texts like these:

(1) “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another” (2 Corinthians 3:18).

(2) “By which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire” (2 Peter 1:4).

(3) “Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven” (1 Corinthians 15:49).

If we’re honest, we have to admit that we need what these texts are talking about. It is not just our behavior that needs improving. We ourselves — our deepest thoughts and motives — need fixing. So Christ came into the world to bring an entirely new kind of life. If we are in Christ, a life that is “eternal” is being created within us, and one day it will reach its perfection. “You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48).

Of all the errors we might make with regard to the gospel, the worst would be misunderstanding what its purpose is. The miracle of the Incarnation is that in Jesus a new kind of life has broken into this world. Are we ready for what this kind of life means?

"Salvation means the incoming into human nature of the great characteristics that belong to God" (Oswald Chambers).

Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com

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"Jesus answered them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed'" (John 8:34-36).

WE STRUGGLE TO BE FREE FROM SIN — NOT JUST IN ONE WAY BUT IN TWO. In addition to the penalty of sin (eternal death), we also need deliverance from the practice of sin in our lives. The old hymn “Rock of Ages” prayerfully expresses these two things we need from Christ: “Be of sin the double cure, save from wrath and make me pure.” The second is no less important than the first.

We should not be under any delusion about the seriousness of the sins we have committed. Sin is a good deal more than a slight inconvenience or an unhealthy habit — it ties us in bondage to a death-dealing slavemaster from whom we are helpless to deliver ourselves. As Paul reminds us, “Christ died for us at a time when we were helpless and sinful” (Rom 5:6 BBE). Jesus was not exaggerating when He said, “Everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.” When we are thinking soberly, we see that no one else is capable of enslaving us more terribly than we have enslaved ourselves.

Concerning those who advocated the “freedom” of a licentious lifestyle for Christians, Peter said, “They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved” (2 Peter 2:19). Beginning in the Garden of Eden, that has always been Satan’s lie. Promising freedom, he delivers slavery. Such is the nature of sin.

And there is no middle ground. If we’re not in a right relationship with God, we are the slaves of sin. “Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?” (Romans 6:16). Deciding which path we’ll take is life’s most consequential decision.

All sin comes down to pride and self-will, of course, and so deliverance from sin is deliverance from the bondage of selfishness. Having demanded to do as we please, we’ve sold ourselves into slavery. And as painful as it is, there is no better day than when we have the honesty to say, with Paul, “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (Romans 7:24).

"He is a slave of the greatest slave who serves nothing but himself" (Anonymous).

Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com

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"I will give them a heart to know that I am the Lord, and they shall be my people and I will be their God, for they shall return to me with their whole heart" (Jeremiah 24:7).

ONE WAY OF LOOKING AT WHAT GOD WANTS TO DO WITH US IN JESUS CHRIST IS TO THINK ABOUT ALL THREE PARTS OF OUR “HEART” BEING REHABILITATED. Sin starts on the inside and works its way outward; so if the problem of sinful behavior is going to be corrected, the thing that most needs to change is inside of us.

Our minds are complicated and not easily described, but for our meditation today, let’s say that our thinking falls into three categories: intellect, emotion, and will. To be redeemed from sin, all three of these must be rescued, not just one or two of them.

INTELLECT. With our intellect, we process information: we learn, analyze, and store “facts.” But obviously, much of the “information” in our minds is incorrect, and that information, if we act on it, will produce behavior that is dysfunctional and destructive. Biblically speaking, untruth on the inside produces sinful behavior on the outside. So the first thing the gospel must do is establish truth in the intellectual part of our minds (John 8:32; Acts 26:18).

EMOTION. As important as our intellect is, our emotions (or feelings) also play a critical role. Since our feelings grow out of our thinking (if I believe a burglar is in my basement, feelings appropriate to that thought will be generated automatically), it is critical that our thinking be based on truth. However, since our actions will mostly be determined by our feelings, we need to make sure our feelings are appropriate to the realities we’re dealing with.

WILL. Our will is our decision-making ability, and freedom of the will means we can choose our actions individually. Here, then, is where the gospel of Christ makes the greatest difference. The disastrous conflict between our will and God’s will needs to be removed.

Putting all of this together, we see an amazing plan. In Christ, we can make better decisions because our feelings are more appropriate, and we can do that because our thoughts are more truthful. In bringing us back to God, the gospel leaves no stone unturned.

"Three things are necessary for the salvation of man: to know what he ought to believe; to know what he ought to desire; and to know what he ought to do" (Thomas Aquinas).

Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com

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"For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people" (Titus 2:11).

WHEN WE’RE HONEST, WE SEE THAT OUR SINS AGAINST GOD HAVE PUT US IN A DESPERATE SITUATION. In our most private moments, we all have known the agony of Paul’s cry, “Who will rescue me from this body of death?” (Romans 7:24 NRSV). Surely, we need not only to be saved, but we need a Savior.

But if you and I made a list of all the things we’d like to be saved from, it would be a long list, would it not? There is much about our lives in this world that we find disappointing, disagreeable, and difficult. What is it, then, that we desire to be saved (i.e., delivered or rescued) from? When we come to Jesus Christ, what is the help we’re seeking more than any other kind of help?

ETERNAL CONDEMNATION. Even if there could be no relief in this world from all the things that have gone wrong, we would surely long to be with our God in eternity rather than be banished from Him. So heaven is the highest and most important promise of the gospel. This, above all, is what we should be seeking from Christ.

OUR DISOBEDIENT ACTIONS. The gospel involves not only forgiveness but reformation, and it should be this deliverance from our sinful habits and weaknesses that we long for. It is not enough to be protected from the punishment for sin; we need to be saved from the practice of sin. This desire for obedience should move us deeply.

OUR WAYWARD HEARTS. Since our actions flow from our hearts, it is our hearts that are the main problem. Whatever outward sources of difficulty may disturb us, we should be more concerned about the darkness that is still in our own thoughts and motives. We ought to long fervently for the hearts that can be ours in heaven.

The thread running through every mention of the gospel in the New Testament is the idea of a unity being restored that was broken by sin. Sin has broken apart everything that was meant to be together, but through Christ all is being brought back into harmony. Our disintegration — our broken-to-pieces-hood — is being healed. In Christ, our hope is for eternal health and wholeness.

"The terms for salvation in many languages are derived from roots like salvus, saos, whole, heil, which all designate health, the opposite of disintegration and disruption. Salvation is healing in the ultimate sense; it is final, cosmic, and individual healing" (Paul Tillich).

Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com

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"From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer" (2 Corinthians 5:16).

SOMETIMES WE SAY, “THERE’S MORE TO THAT PERSON THAN MEETS THE EYE.” In reality, that is true of everybody we’ve ever met. We never see anything more than the tip of the iceberg in anyone’s life, and it is hazardous to form conclusions about their character if all we have is a first impression or a superficial acquaintance.

With people (and even with situations and circumstances), discovering the whole truth requires more digging than many of us are willing to do. First impressions may get us started down the road to understanding, but finding out what is really going on usually takes patience and fact-finding. It can be hard work.

In 2 Corinthians 5:16, Paul admits that his previous rejection of Jesus as the Messiah was the result of having judged Him “according to the flesh.” Eventually, however, Paul came to see that the truth about Jesus was something that could not be seen if all one did was look at outward, worldly appearances. So as we form our own opinions about Jesus, let’s think of two important principles.

(1) Sometimes we need to find out more of the facts before we draw a conclusion. Given the far-reaching implications of the question, it is amazing how many people reject Jesus while knowing very little of His life and teachings from the original sources. Whatever our ultimate decision turns out to be, surely that decision needs to be based on more than a few tidbits of information.

(2) But also, we need to be careful about the criteria we use to make our evaluation. Even when we have a lot of information about a person, our assessment of their character is determined by the value system we apply to them, and this is especially critical when it comes to Jesus. If Jesus truly was the Son of God, we would not expect that truth to be obvious to us if our “eyes” can only see the things that this world considers to be important.

So may we avoid judging Jesus “according to the flesh.” There is more to Him than meets the eye. May we appraise Him carefully — and appraise His inner character the most carefully of all.

"Jesus Christ always speaks from the source of things; consequently those who deal only with the surface find him an offense" (Oswald Chambers).

Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com

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"Did any people ever hear the voice of a god speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard, and still live? . . . To you it was shown, that you might know that the Lord is God; there is no other besides him" (Deuteronomy 4:33-35).

WHEN GOD SPOKE TO ISRAEL ON MOUNT SINAI, SOMETHING HAPPENED THAT HAD NO NATURAL CAUSE. Assuming that what is recorded actually took place, the event was not triggered by any natural event that preceded it — it was the introduction of something “new” or “extra” into nature’s progression of cause and effect, something from outside that closed, deterministic system.

I suggest that the operations of our own reason are similar, not that they are divine communications, but that they cannot be explained as the result of natural causes producing natural effects. Many neuroscientists today, of course, dispute this; they argue that what we call human “reason” is nothing more than the brain at work as a physical organ. When science has learned more about the brain, they say, we will recognize that a person never has any thought that cannot be accounted for neurologically and biochemically. Every firing of every neuron is the result of something within nature. Nothing freely decided upon ever comes into the sequence — whatever happens, it was determined materialistically.

But think about this comment from Douglas Groothuis: “if materialism were true, we could never grant reasons for holding beliefs since all our brain states would be rigorously determined in a materialistically caused fashion. Thought would be reduced to a mere reflex action on the order of a muscle twinge. But can glorified muscle twinges weigh evidence and reach warranted conclusions?”

We ought not to minimize what is required if our reasoning is to be objectively valid. It must be the working of something personal — an independent force not chained to the sequence of physical cause and effect. And in the biblical account, that is exactly the case: we are dual creatures who straddle the physical and spiritual worlds. We have a brain, but we also have a mind — a reasoning faculty that reaches far beyond what the brain (which is its servant) can do.

"The validity of our reasoning depends upon the transcendence of reason itself. Reason must stand outside of nature in order for it to give us truth about nature. Our thinking, if we are to regard it as true or false, must be a shot from Something beyond nature, a beam from the Light beyond the sun, a participation in the eternal Logos" (Joe Rigney).

Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com

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