Grace Fellowship Church

How Can I Become Wise?

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 09:57:15 -0500

The Scriptures esteem wisdom very highly (Prov. 8:10-11 -- "Take my instruction instead of silver, and knowledge rather than choice gold, for wisdom is better than jewels,and all that you may desire cannot compare with her."). The question for Christians, then, is "How do I acquire wisdom?"

Below is a list complied from various verses in the book of Proverbs that speak about how to become wise. Remember that wisdom is more than mere knowledge. To be wise is to be able to live a godly life in a fallen world -- it is to live a life that is God-approved, and thus, God-blessed.

Note carefully: Wisdom will not just come with age, it must be pursued with vigour.

This is a good list to read through slowly and meditatively. How are you doing in your pursuit of wisdom?

Prov 10:8 The wise of heart will receive commandments, but a babbling fool will come to ruin.
Prov 10:17 Whoever heeds instruction is on the path to life, but he who rejects reproof leads others astray.
Prov 11:2 When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom.
Prov 12:1 Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid.
Prov 12:15 The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice.
Prov 13:1 A wise son hears his father's instruction, but a scoffer does not listen to rebuke.
Prov 13:10 By insolence comes nothing but strife, but with those who take advice is wisdom.
Prov 13:13 Whoever despises the word brings destruction on himself, but he who reveres the commandment will be rewarded.
Prov 13:14 The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life, that one may turn away from the snares of death.
Prov 13:18 Poverty and disgrace come to him who ignores instruction, but whoever heeds reproof is honoured.
Prov 13:20 Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.
Prov 13:24 Whoever spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him.
Prov 14:15 The simple believes everything, but the prudent gives thought to his steps.
Prov 15:5 A fool despises his father's instruction, but whoever heeds reproof is prudent.
Prov 15:10 There is severe discipline for him who forsakes the way; whoever hates reproof will die.
Prov 15:12 A scoffer does not like to be reproved; he will not go to the wise.
Prov 15:31 The ear that listens to life-giving reproof will dwell among the wise.
Prov 15:32 Whoever ignores instruction despises himself, but he who listens to reproof gains intelligence.
Prov 17:10 A rebuke goes deeper into a man of understanding than a hundred blows into a fool.
Prov 18:2 A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion.
Prov 18:15 An intelligent heart acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.
Prov 19:20 Listen to advice and accept instruction, that you may gain wisdom in the future.
Prov 19:25 Strike a scoffer, and the simple will learn prudence; reprove a man of understanding, and he will gain knowledge.
Prov 20:18 Plans are established by counsel; by wise guidance wage war.
Prov 23:12 Apply your heart to instruction and your ear to words of knowledge.
Prov 24:6 for by wise guidance you can wage your war, and in abundance of counsellors there is victory.
Prov 25:12 Like a gold ring or an ornament of gold is a wise reprover to a listening ear.
Prov 27:6 Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy.
Prov 27:9 Oil and perfume make the heart glad, and the sweetness of a friend comes from his earnest counsel.
Prov 28:9 If one turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination.
Prov 28:23 Whoever rebukes a man will afterward find more favour than he who flatters with his tongue.
Prov 28:26 Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered.
Prov 29:1 He who is often reproved, yet stiffens his neck, will suddenly be broken beyond healing.
Prov 29:5 A man who flatters his neighbour spreads a net for his feet.
Prov 29:15 The rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child left to himself brings shame to his mother.
Prov 29:17 Discipline your son, and he will give you rest; he will give delight to your heart.

Download pdf version of the above list.

For more on the connection between humility and wisdom, you can listen to a sermon by our assistant pastor, Julian, called 'From Poverty of Spirit to Riches of Wisdom.'

Worship in Song

Tue, 29 Jan 2008 17:02:12 -0500

Our one-day conference on leading worship in the local church. Here is the pertinent info:

The cost is $10 / person.

Click here to download the flyer for our conference so you can print and / or pass the word along!

Walter on Being a Servant

Mon, 21 Jan 2008 13:52:36 -0500

January 20, 2008

Dear Paul and friends at Grace Fellowship Church,

The worst part of being me is something I can’t tell you.

But besides that is another hitch: my problem is getting tuned out like a watch tick in a football stadium by the folks ‘round here. They’re tired of listening to me!

Now I’ve always feared the same fate for writing to you, so I’ve kept my notes to nothing as of late. But since no one here cares to listen to me ramble, I’ll take the chance your pastor is fatigué after a long day of preaching and meetings and scribble out a few thoughts that have been stuffing my silo.

A long life means more to be sorry for, and ol’ Walter is no exception. I spent too many of my short years unmindful of God and others and that leaves a man muttering, “Vanity! Vanity!” when he should be whispering, “Glory to God.” You see, I realized I spent a lot more time thinking of Walter rather than others—thinking of how to get served, rather than how to serve. And that got me to thinking.

If there’s a leak in my barn, I snoop around until I find the hole to fix. And that can be tricky business. Sometimes water runs uphill, or so it seems, and the spot where she drips is 20 feet from where she came in. So, I decided to do some snooping around my own heart to find the leak. I’ve been pondering that a fair bit as of late and grown to see that there’s a stump of pride thicker than a combine wheel still hiding in my heart.

But you don’t fix a leak just by looking at it. I ain’t so old that I can’t change, so off I went to the Lord’s words to find out how I might get to re-shingling that part of my life. What I mean is, getting rid of the pride that has kept me from living like a servant.

It’s hard for me to imagine following Jesus day by day. I think I’d always be getting left behind at some well or campsite since He would say something and I would have to sit down and think about it for the next few hours. One of those times would have been in Luke 17. Do you recall the passage? Jesus is talking a fair bit about sin. He starts by warning us of how rotten our sin is against a brother concluding with those sobering words, “Pay attention to yourselves!” Then he moves on to tellin’ us how we are to forgive a brother that sins against us faster than a bovine dropped out of a plane... even if he sins the same sin seven times in one day!

Now the order of those things can’t be a mistake. We ought to fear sinning against a brother the way an overweight skunk with led anklets fears a dip in the icy Lake Ontario! (If you think drowning is bad, just wait till you see what you get for sinning against a brother!) And folks that are on high alert against sinning are generally much more prepared to be sinned against.

If you’ve fought a bull with your bare hands once or thrice, you tend to give the clown currently wrapped up with a beast a little more slack. You know what its like to try and stop that 2000 pounds of hostility! So if a little sin slides out of a brother toward you, your mindful of how much you’d like to be quickly forgiven for the 400 faults you’ve completed since noon.

Which makes me think that a man who won’t forgive is a man who’s never asked for forgiveness! Or, at least a man who hasn’t seen how ugly is his sin. Still, these followers of Jesus did not seem to put the 2 with the 2, and their old math summed them a 3 instead of a 4.

Now, I know about that. There has been more than 9 times in my life when the thought of not sinning seemed impossible. So they did what the most of us do when things don’t make sense; you say something pious!

You know, when one of those seminary boys you have down there starts yapping about a 17 syllable word you’ve never heard in relation to a problem you don’t understand about a man you’ve never met... and you look all concerned and say, “Well, brother. We need grace don’t we!” Now, of course that’s as true as skim milk, but what it has to do with anything that pencil-necked seminary student just said is beyond everyone!

And so these blokes look at Jesus and reply: “Increase our faith!” The choir shouts, “Hallelujah,” and everyone goes home.

No. It ain’t that simple. Sometimes pious words are meant to cover proud hearts. So Jesus calls them on it and says, “If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.”

In other words, if you just used the little bit of faith you already had, you could fight sin in yourself and forgive sin in others!

Isn’t that so often the case! A spare battery on the shed floor won’t start the tractor. What I need on a cold morning is not more faith... but the horse sense to screw in the new battery! But, we are expert self-deceivers... and we are not half-bad at self-justifying either. The end result is, we think a whole lot meaner thoughts at other people’s sins against us than we do at our sins against them. And I say that is pride... the enemy of true serving.

So, if that’s the leak, what’s the fix? It comes right next in that same chapter.

“Will any one of you who has a servant ploughing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and recline at table’? Will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, and dress properly, and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink’? Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’” (Luke 17:7-10)

You know, no where in my Bible does it say we should obey the Lord for our own comfort. And no where in my Bible does it say we should obey the Lord in our own strength. The heart of the matter is that you and I need to be men and women and small folk that do what we’re told... like good servants. And when we’re done doin’, aren’t looking all around with our head on a swivel for some form of applause or accolade.

Some people “serve” in church the way some women dress. Their intention is to get as much attention as they can! But recognition is the demolition of servanthood.

You really want to be like Jesus? You really want to live like a Christian? Then get sinned against 5 times in 5 hours by the same 5 year old... and fully forgive him. And when you are done, don’t tell a soul. Now that there, dear friends, is true humility. But it is the humility of one who lives for Another, not for himself.

It strikes me that the real test of this is going to be found wherever you live. With moms and dads, and brothers and sisters, and children and grandparents, and roommates, and even the dumb dog. Day in and day out, sin will happen. How will you handle it?

I once knew a ploughman who could talk theological circles around any visiting preacher. In fact, he seemed to like to do that. But his kids hated him and his wife disliked him and I’ll tell you why. He was an arrogant snot. Prouder than a peacock in heat. Boastful like the Titanic, he thought he had all the answers and should make all the choices and never once did he stop and ask anyone to forgive him. By his practice he acted sinless... but he didn’t even fool the mirror.

I wonder when the last time was you humbled yourself before your family? Or when you asked forgiveness from someone there at church?

Have you been looking for ways to go low and serve others and then take real joy when no one noticed... like your roommate?

I wonder if you’ve been expecting to be treated badly—like a slave in from the fields watching his master eat first—and then been doubly content when done your duty?

I testify that I spent way too much of my life striving for position and prominence instead of service and snubbing. And I thought the problem had more to do with God not giving enough faith than with me not using the little I had.

I have come to see that there has been far more pride than humility in my humble existence. I have come to see that if I had thought more about serving others as opposed to getting served myself, I would have lived a lot closer to the Lord.

So, I thought I would write to all of you and urge you not to make the same mistake—no matter how old you are! For it only takes a dash of humility to upset a donkey cart of pride. Get to it now and watch God’s grace in your life grow; for although opposed to the proud, He gives grace to the humble. Tell your heart you exist to serve others and you won’t be so bent out of shape when a brother treats you like a slave. You might even learn a thing or three about that Servant we all love, Jesus Christ.

With happy thoughts to you all,

Walter

P.S. Tell Brother Hill the snow has reached the roof on the south end of barn, right where he sat with me this summer!

May 7

Mon, 14 Jan 2008 11:54:13 -0500

Men of Grace and Women of Grace will meet this Wed. at 7pm. There will be no GraceKids / GraceYouth.

May 8, 11, 13

Mon, 14 Jan 2008 11:53:29 -0500

These are the final dates for TAG before we break for the summer holidays.

Jim Stowe

Sat, 22 Dec 2007 20:41:08 -0500

Jim Stowe is eldest of ten children. He was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan but has travelled and lived in many places. His desire to serve the Lord brought him to Toronto Baptist Seminary where he completed a Bachelor of Theological Studies and met his wife Jessica. Since 2004, Jim has been part of Grace Fellowship Church where he teaches the youth, plays the keyboard, and serves as a deacon.

Walter on How Men Look

Tue, 04 Dec 2007 10:40:27 -0500

My Dear Brothers,

It has been some time since my last letter to you all, which, if you think of it, is about as redundant a statement a man can make. "Some time." Well, it's certainly not been "no time." But all that is besides the point.

Life on the farm is as good as usual - hard where it needs to be and surprising when you least expect it. The goats have been popping out kids like iPods from a Chinese factory, so I only have a few minutes to write between deliveries.

I thought I might say a few words to you all on the matter of your eyes - as in where it is they look. And so I have called this letter - How Men Look. What I am most interested in here is a directional conversation. And that should explain itself as we move along.

Looking Forward
One of the great callings of manhood is learning to look ahead. And by that, I don't mean what my pappy used to say every time we passed one of those roadside signs: "Look... a 'head'!" while he'd point at my cranium's carriage. What I mean is looking to the future, especially as it relates to preparing for what is to come.

One of the true delights of being a Christian, is that we know how our story ends! There is still much about the life to come that is a mystery, but there is nothing mysterious about the overall goal! With that question answered, a man is free to spread the wings of his manhood in looking ahead and planning accordingly.

Every man has a plan, it is just that some men know what theirs is... and they fill in the steps along the way to help it happen. Part of being a man is being a leader, and although we fellows might lead in different ways and with different styles, nobody truly leads without considering where it is they are going.

A man needs to see where it is he hopes to go, and be more than a careless king with good intentions. He needs to work his plan from the end back to today and consider how it is he's going to get (by the Lord's grace!) from here to there.

I knew a fellow that always said he was going to retire at age 55 - not bad for a farmer! Trouble is, he never took the trouble to map out how to get to that golden age until he was 3 years from his destination. Then, surprise, surprise... he had to change his goal by 12 years or so! So man needs to give thought about how to get to where he hopes to go.

Looking forward also means thinking about trajectories - word harder to say than understand. I weren't much for geometrics in the public school, but I know if I want to get my plough straight to the other side of field, I've got to first trace the path in my mind's eye. Doing such might alert me to the fact that a stone wall exists between me and my destination - not the easiest thing to get a tractor over! Likewise, a man needs to consider the outcomes of his current direction and behaviours. If you're flirting daily with sexual sins, you might count it likely you'll end up doing worse in that matter over time. If you tend to waste money now, it is more than likely you'll have none 10 years from now.

Too many men live in a dream world, saying all the right slogans but not doing any hard slugging. If you want to change the port your ship lands at, point your bow in a new direction tonight! Nobody likes to change since it takes work and pain, but thorns and thistles are all yours until eternity friend, so you might as well get to weeding now before your garden gets overrun!

Recall the great apostle Paul. Now that man knew how to plan, far as I can tell. And so he systematically spent his life spreading the good news of Christ to city by city in ever-widening circles. He could've hopped on some ship and sailed for New Mexico, but he knew there were other worlds in-between. So, he started locally and moved outward... and had he lived long enough, part of me thinks he would've been the one to DISCOVER New Mexico in the end!

Looking Beside
Not only must a man look forward, but he needs to look beside him as well. There is whole lot in my Bible about caring for our brothers and sisters in the Lord. But you can't care for what you can't see. Now the looking I'm talking about here is a tad more than the "O, look, here is Joe at church again" kind of thing.

Now, I understand that you brothers meet together once a month, and that is why I am taking the time to write this letter. And this meeting together is a mighty good thing, but in my days around the block I have seen men that meet and still don't take a good look at one another. They tend to let their brothers get as close to them as a tail-raised skunk. So, part of what I want to urge you men to do is work real hard, tonight, to get to know one other brother. Ask him a whack of questions and see who it is you talk sports with every other week. You could start by asking a fellow how it is the Lord got to saving him. If that well dries up too quick, ask him to tell you one of the smartest things he ever done - then one of the dumbest!

And once you start to get to know these brothers, you'll have ample opportunity to keep one eye on them. I ain't much for modern music, but I did hear a song once that caught my fancy. It goes like this:

    And I will be my brother's keeper
    Not the one who judges him
    I won't despise him for his weakness
    I won't regard him for his strength
    I won't take away his freedom
    I will help him learn to stand
    And I will ~ I will be my brother's keeper

As great as it is to look ahead and march forward, a true soldier never leaves his fellow behind. Besides, one day you might be the wounded one needing a shoulder to lean on!

Looking Behind
One of the things a man ought regularly to do is stop and survey the ground behind him. It can be discouraging to wake up every morning to the same old battles, so a wise man will learn to selah here and there - not to catch his breath, but to remind himself of past grace.

Dr. Piper wrote a book called Future Grace that I liked a lot. Well, truth be told, I liked about 30% of it, since I found her a little hard to finish! But the big point made sense to my little mind - we ought to look back in order to strengthen our resolve as we look forward. If God has been faithful to us (and He has) and that at every time we really called on Him, no matter how tough or terrible the situation appeared, then it only makes sense that He is going to be there for us in the future!

Seems to me this is precisely what Joshua was doing with Israel at the end of his life. "Look back in order to go forward" as the case may be.

When is the last time you took a good long look behind you to see where the Lord has taken you? Why, some of you have been snatched out of the fire and others pulled from the bog and still more ripped from the caves - and the Lord did it! And He is just as strong and just as able to do it now as He was then. Thing is, we have this nasty whispering Enemy that is always murmuring something about God running out of power or expecting us to do things in our own strength. Blasted Devil! Would that the Lord would lock him up and throw away the key - Oh, I guess that is coming. Anyway, we need to fight through his smoke screens and cling to the Truth. One great way to do that is to consider what God has done in the past.

And not just with us - but with all the saints of God since time began. Seems to me that was the point of writing Hebrews 11. As if that author were saying, "Look at some of these blokes! Yet, the Lord did some mighty amazing things through them!" Now that brings me some encouragement. Maybe you fellows could do that tonight - you know, tell each other one great deliverance the Lord has wrought on your pilgrimage.

Looking Down
A man's eyes can't always be up and there are a couple reasons why.

First, a man needs to look down when the look forward is full of female flesh he'd be better off not seeing. Now I know that at the root of lust is a heart problem, but it sure won't hurt a man to make a visual contract with himself. Job did and the terms specified he would not gaze on a virgin. That means that although his glance might meet with the painted eyes and over-sensualized dress of an immodest (or mostly modest) lady, he'll stare at his shoes before he'll stare at her.

Better to look down and walk into a wall than gaze at what is in front of you and fall off a cliff!

Now I know that is not always the easiest thing to do, and I don't mean to over-simplify the root of the matter - but you're a heap less likely to get hit by a plane if you stay off the runway! Can a man take fire in his bosom and not get burned? Of course not, and he might as well stay away from the matches and kindling as well!

Of course, when he doesn't, and the mind of his heart wanders to forbidden places, then he ought to be a might quick looking down in a second way - in repentance. Some men think of sin like it were a missed tee shot - something to be mad about, but a thing they can fix next time. But we need to see our sin as sin, and there is no better way to do that than give a fresh consideration to the cross. That is what my sin deserves.

Looking Up
Well, you knew I was going to get to this one didn't you? And rightly so! For no look down is complete without a look up! And just as we need to look up to the Lord for grace and forgiveness, we need to look up to the Lord for daily strength. I took a quick glance over my life the other day and discovered something - I tend to grow a little lax in the Bible reading and prayer department in the summer time.

You'd think those extra daylight hours would be put to better use, but I am a slacker at heart. So, this year, I have made it goal to not miss one day in June, July or August when it comes to reading and praying... and so far, the Lord has given grace.

Maybe this would be a good idea for you, too. Nothing like a week of vacation to drop rats in your grain bin. Why is it we love our rest so much? Why not take that time of less responsibilities to do more spiritual growth? That's what I'm going to aim for anyway, and I'd be happy to have y'all join me in the endeavor!

Looking Nowhere

Finally, having looked forward, behind, beside, down and up - we need to look nowhere. What I mean is that a man needs to learn to humble himself and get some rest. Is it pride that keeps a man up late? Is there some part of us that just wants to believe that we can get by without a respite. Only God never sleeps or slumbers, but men have to do both.

And when you fight rest, you usually end up encouraging sin. Too much late night singularity can lead to too much sin. A man is never so vulnerable to the enemy as when he is all alone and tired.

I realize there are times a fellow has to stay up and get things done, but I'm talking more about the "stay up just because I want to" kind of thing. A wise man will learn to accept the fact that he needs to sleep, and that said sleep will do more to make him do more than a dose of caffeinated coffee in his bloodstream.

Well, such is all I care to pen between the bleating of newborn kids.

Have yourselves a pleasant meeting and remember to not waste a second of the precious time God has granted you with one another.

Sincerely,
Walter

P.S. -- I hope the red sticks win.

Total Inability

Mon, 19 Nov 2007 10:44:11 -0500

The Doctrine of Total Inability:

Because of the Fall, no human is able of himself to savingly believe the gospel--

our salvation must begin with a work of God.

Original Sin --> Total Depravity --> Total Inability

Original sin (sin derived from our origin):

- Sinfulness marks everyone from birth and is present in a motivationally twisted heart prior to any actual sins committed (Gen 6:5-6; 8:21; 1 Kgs 8:46; Ps 14:1-3; 51:5; Ecc 9:3; Eph 2:3)

The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. ... - Gen 6:5

- This inner sinfulness is the root of our sins (Jer 17:9; Eph 2:1-3; 4:17-19)

- It is derived in us from Adam, our first representative before God (Rom 5:12-21)

Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned... - Rom 5:12

Total Depravity:

- Makes explicit the implications of original sin

- Speaks to the pervasiveness and effect of sin in our person, not the degree of depravity (i.e. we're not saying that everyone is as bad as they possibly could be)

- No single part of us is untouched by sin, but every component of our being is effected by the corruption of the curse and our sin nature

1. The mind has become darkened with respect to spiritual things: (2 Cor 4:4; Rom 8:5-8; Eph 4:17-18; Col 1:21)

The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. - 1 Cor 2:14

2. The affections have been perverted by sin: (Gen 6:5; 8:21; Job 15:14-16; Is 59:2; Jer 17:9; Mk 7:21-23)

And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. - Jn 3:19

3. The will is in bondage to sinful desires: (Job 14:4; John 5:40, 43-44; 6:44; Titus 3:3)

Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? Then also you can do good who are accustomed to do evil. - Jer 13:23

- These considerations are true for every human! (1 Kgs 8:46; Is 53:6; Rom 3:9-23; Gal 3:22; Eph 2:1-3)

Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins. - Ecc 7:20

Total Inability (The result of the above considerations!)

Because of the pervasiveness of the corruption in the core of our being, no person is capable of (1) doing that which is pleasing in God's sight, or, (2) coming to God in their own strength and wisdom.

No one can do good spiritually good deeds on their own volition (Is 64:6; Jer 13:23; Jn 15:4-5; Rom 5:7-8)

A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. - Mt 7:18

No one can come to God in repentance and faith on their own (Mt 11:27; Jn 3:3, 5; 14:17; 1 Cor 12:3; 2 Cor 4:4; Rev 14:3)

All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. - Mt 11:27

No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. It is written in the Prophets, 'And they will all be taught by God.' Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. - Jn 6:44-45

This is why every person must be born a second time... (Jn 1:12-13)

Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.'" - Jn 3:5-7

Total Inability in Pictures

In Scriptures, salvation is pictured in various ways: the dead being raised, a new creation, a new heart being implanted, or the blind receiving sight. In none of these metaphors can the one receiving salvation possibly be seen to contribute anything! In fact, the whole point of the pictures is to show how hopeless and helpless we are on our own! What can a dead man do to bring himself back to life? What can a blind man do to give himself sight? (Jn 3:3, 5; Eph 2:1-3; 2 Cor 4:3-6; 5:17)

And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. - Ezek 36:26-27

Do humans have a free will?

Yes and no. Humans will always act according to their nature. The will is bound only by what the mind thinks and what the affections desire. To illustrate, think of how the will operates in the animal kingdom. Hang fifty pounds of raw steak in a cage and put a leopard and a zebra in with it. The zebra will eat the grass around the meat. The leopard will eat the meat (and maybe the zebra!) because each of them are freely "willing" according to their nature.

But what if you were to paint the zebra so he looks like a leopard and then put him back in the cage... what does he do? The same thing! He must act according to his nature and zebras, by nature, are herbivores.

Man is a sinner by nature (original sin). Since sin has warped the way he thinks (his mind) and what he desires (his affections), he will freely uses his will to rebel against God and disbelieve God's Word.

Is a man's will free? Yes! Will his free will bring him to come to put his trust in Jesus? No! Since his nature is sinful--he needs to be changed from the core of his being.

Then how can we repent and believe?

Even repentance and faith are gifts of God that He must work in us (Rom 9:16)

"When they heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, "Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life." - Acts 11:18

"For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast." - Eph 2:8

Do all Christians believe this? Why does it matter?

This is the historic doctrine of the church, but many have been uncomfortable with it through the years. Why? Typically for the same reasons that we don't like to think about ourselves in the categories we've discussed: we're proud and we like to think better of ourselves than we ought. We don't want to admit that in and of myself I can contribute nothing to my salvation, but that it depends on God's sovereign grace alone.

The Arminian scheme of looking at things suggests that while humanity was affected by Adam's sin, we maintain a certain measure of innocence because of God's "prevenient grace." In this view, man is not "totally" depraved and hence, not totally incapable of spiritual good, or of choosing God. Therefore, it is thought that all man needs to do is to choose Christ. In one sense it would be nice to believe this (it sure appeals to our flesh!). The trouble is that it is biblically indefensible. It is interesting--and should be noted--that the gospel presentations in the Bible never use words like, "Just choose Jesus," or "Ask Jesus into your heart." The gospel of the Bible is always repent from your sins and trust on the finished work of Jesus!

This matters because how we view the fallen state of humanity determines how we view salvation, Christ's cross-work, God's grace, and ultimately, God himself! Let's flesh that out some more...

Application: Speak of Your Salvation (1 Chr 16:23)!

How does this help us to think right thoughts about God / His character?
How does this impact evangelism? How can we use it in promoting the gospel?
How does this aid in our corporate worship?
How does this help us to encourage our own souls?
How does this give us something to say back to our Accuser?
How does this prepare us for heaven?
How can we use this to encourage one another in the faith?
How will this help promote cross-centered authenticity between one-another?

How to Become a Member

Fri, 16 Nov 2007 11:04:32 -0500

Basic Requirements to be a Member.

Anyone may be a member at Grace Fellowship Church, who:

professes allegiance to and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ
has been baptized by immersion in water upon profession of his or her faith,
is not under the biblically warranted (Matt. 18:17,18; 1 Cor. 5:11-13; 2 Thess. 3:6,14,15; 3 John 9,10; 2 Cor. 2:6-8) corrective discipline of a genuine church, and
expresses substantial agreement with the teachings, aims and organization of this church shall be eligible for membership.[1]

Method of Becoming a Member

Notice is given to an elder by the individual that they would like to become a member of Grace Fellowship.

By verbal request. Any person who meets the above mentioned requirements may make their desire for membership known to one of the elders.
By letter of transfer. Any person from another evangelical church desiring to unite with this church may present a letter of recommendation from the other church to the elders.

The applicant is interviewed by the elders and congregation.

A minimum of two elders will meet with the applicant, who will be questioned as to his or her basic Christian experience, doctrinal beliefs and seriousness of intention to wholeheartedly support the total ministry of this church. At this meeting, the elders will invite the applicant to provide a written testimony for distribution to the members explaining his understanding and experience of the Gospel of Christ. (This written testimony is intended to promote a proper evaluation of the potential member and to encourage knowledgeable fellowship with him. The elders may request further clarification and/or expansion of this written testimony before proceeding with the application process. ) The purpose of this process will be to determine whether or not that person meets the qualifications as stated in Article IV, Section A, of this Constitution.
If the applicant has been a member of another church, the elders will investigate his standing in that church before he is accepted as a member in this church. Where it is possible and appropriate, a letter of transfer will be requested. Reception by transfer does not negate any of the requirements for becoming a member in this assembly.
Upon the reception of an acceptable written testimony, the elders may at their discretion ask for another meeting with the applicant; otherwise, the name of the applicant shall be announced for at least two consecutive Lord's Days at stated meetings of the church. This time period is for the purpose of enabling the members to read his testimony and to raise any questions or objections concerning the applicant's qualifications. (Members are expected to consider this a personal duty of the most serious character. They are expected to voice privately to the elders all questions or objections that have not yet been resolved, after personal contact has been made with the applicant (Matt. 18:15ff; Lev. 19:16, 17).)

The applicant is publicly received into the church membership. If the elders are satisfied that the applicant meets the qualifications for membership, and any objections raised by the membership are effectually resolved, the person will be received at a stated meeting of the church (Matt. 3:6-12; Acts 9:26, 27; 1 John 4:1; Rev. 2:2).

Reaffirmation of Membership

It will be the custom of this church that all members present will renew their membership promise at the induction of any new members, using this time to evaluate how well they have lived out their commitment and to thoughtfully consider how to fulfill their promise even more.

[1] Mastery of church confessions is not required of any new disciple before he is admitted to church membership. Such a requirement would violate the order of Matt. 28:19,20, which instructs us to disciple, to baptize, and then to teach the baptized disciple to observe all things whatsoever Christ has commanded. It is necessary, however, that any disciple applying for membership manifest a willingness to be taught and possess substantial agreement with what he already knows concerning the church's doctrine and government.

Personal Testimony Worksheet

Fri, 16 Nov 2007 10:35:40 -0500

Personal Testimony - your spiritual autobiography

The following sections lay out some leading questions to help you write out the important aspects of your testimony. You do not need to follow these sections exactly or answer each question! They are intended to get you thinking and help you to get those thoughts down on paper.

A testimony might be just a couple of paragraphs, or several pages long. There is no magic formula. The most important thing is to be yourself and speak clearly to the work God has done in your life.

1. What I was like:

My family, friends, interests were...

My security (most important value) was...

My religious background & attitude about Christ was...

2. What God used to begin to open my eyes:

I was awakened to my need for Christ by (people, books, meeting, circumstances, etc)...

What I thought and/or noticed (about myself, God, others) at this point was...

3. What it was I saw/understood:

Those aspects of the gospel that touched me were...

I came to understand that Christ...

A particular Scripture that the Lord used to draw me to Him was...

I saw my need was....

4. How Christ has/is affecting my life:

My relationships with...

My attitude toward...

My desires now are...

I'm now doing...

A difficult area of obedience is...

Now answer either 5 or 6 depending on what you desire.

5. Why I would like to be baptized:

What I understand this rite to be accomplishing...

Why I am pleased to have this done...

6. Why I want to be a member of Grace Fellowship Church:

I obeyed the Lord and was baptized on...

I hope to help by...

I value _______ about the church, being a member, etc...

Ulrich Zwingli and Reformation Day

Wed, 07 Nov 2007 15:02:42 -0500

Ulrich Zwingli was born on New Year's Day, 1484 in Gall, Switzerland.1 He was the 7th of 8 sons and grew up in a prominent middle class family. His father was the chief magistrate of the town and his uncle the priest.

After graduating with a Master of Arts in 1506 (aged 22), he became the priest of the village of Glarus and continued his studies of Greek and humanism.

Humanism was, of course, the raging idea of the times - especially in the academy. Erasmus, one of humanisms main teachers, was writing much and Zwingli was eating it up!

Simply put, Humanism is the idea that truth can be arrived at through mere rational thought - extra revelation is not needed. If man just thinks enough, he can get to the truth of the matter. Early on, most humanists were Christian in name, teaching others that logic and rationalism would lead anyone to Christian beliefs. This is the kind of ethos that Zwingli was immersed in from an early age.

As a side note, rather than embracing Humanism, Luther actually wrote against it! He saw it for the evil it was, elevating man's reason to a place of equal or even superior value to God's revelation. Luther would write of Erasmus' work: "The Freedom of the Will." "...your Book is, in my estimation, so mean and vile, that I greatly feel for you for having defiled your most beautiful and ingenious language with such vile trash; and I feel an indignation against the matter also, that such unworthy stuff should be borne about in ornaments of eloquence so rare; which is as if rubbish, or dung, should he carried in vessels of gold and silver."2 Zwingli did not share these opinions.

Zwingli was also involved in politics and the military from the beginning of his ministry. In 1512 and 1515 he marched with the troops against Italy. Although he later decried the motivations behind these mercenary attacks, he never forsook his belief in the use of the sword.

By 1518 (age 34) he was appointed priest in Zurich, Switzerland. By this time, he had reached similar conclusions to Luther - especially in regard to the abuses of the church and papacy - and was beginning to teach such at the church. But it seems he was rather put out when anyone suggested he was a follower of Luther! He was his own man and he would have it known that he reached his own conclusions in his own way.

By 1520, Zwingli was making choices that clearly put him at odds with the Roman church. He opposed the sale of indulgences in Zurich. He renounced his papal pension, not a small source of his personal income. He urged the city not to send troops in support of papal wars. All in all, these were remarkable and brave things to do at the time.

He followed these actions with more! In 1522, he published his tract attacking the mercenary system. By 1524, the images had been removed from the church, the liturgical language had been changed, convents for both men and women had been emptied and the organ, in fact, all music, had been silenced in the church. (Zwingli was intent on getting rid of the organ. For a while other instruments were used, but being no fan of music he was content when all forms of instrumentation were abandoned. Many of his followers to this day are non-instrumental in worship. But for Zwingli - the big deal was the organ!)

Also in 1524, Zwingli married his long-time concubine. (Which again, points to something of the difference in character between Zwingli and other reformers.) They had 4 children together in the next 6 years.

In 1525, the mass was finally done away with and replaced with a very simple celebration of the Lord's Supper. A wooden table with bread and wine given to all - this was truly remarkable! The break with Rome was clear.

One has to recall though the interwoven relationship between church and state in this time period. Cities became known as either Catholic or Protestant. The church in the city was one or the other - there was no mixing. And so, when a city "went Protestant," political tensions were raised.

In Switzerland, it was an even split - 5 Catholic and 5 Protestant cities. But Zwingli knew that the Catholic Cantons would not long suffer this reformation. Remarkably, he proposed going to war against the Catholics! He could not convince Zurich to join with him, so he was left to wait for the Catholics to come to him.

And they did come.

In October 1531, the 5 Catholics city-states joined together and launched a surprise attack on Zurich. Zwingli was no coward and although they had been caught completely unprepared, he marched out with the first of the troops - and was killed in battle - aged 47.

Two Surprising Events

There are two interesting events in Zwingli's life that bear examination.

1. The Marburg Colloquy

In 1529, Philip of Hesse organized a meeting with the key leaders of the Reformation. Luther and Zwingli were both present and although they agreed on much, they differed quite strongly on the meaning and intent of the Lord's Supper. Interestingly, Zwingli had a much more acceptable view than Luther - seeing the Lord's supper primarily as a symbolic remembrance of the Lord's death and atoning sacrifice. Luther, of course, held on to his consubstantiation - a sort of laser-treated transubstantiation. Luther parted Zwingli with the words, "we are not of the same spirit."

It was only two years later that Zwingli died in battle, so one wonders what relationships would have developed over the years between them. Gonzalez notes that, "sometime later, when the break with Catholics was clearly irreversible, Melancthon (Luther's #2 man) reached an agreement with the reformers from Switzerland and Strasbourg."3

2. The Anabaptists.

As mentioned, Zwingli felt very comfortable in the realm of politics and the military. Thus, when some of his followers, notably Conrad Grebel and George Blaurock, took Zwingli's teaching on things like baptism and the separation of church and state as true... there was trouble.

To separate from the church would be to deny citizenship in the state - and that meant a loss of control. Although Zwingli longed for reform, in many ways it was reform of the meat of the matter, not the skeletal structure.

When Blaurock and Grebel were baptized, he unleashed a fury of persecution against them and their followers - including the drowning of Felix Manz.

Zwingli was not alone in this persecution. Calvin and Luther joined in. And the Catholics hated them too! It was not easy to be a Baptist in this time period. In fact, most scholars agree that more Anabaptists (as they were called) were martyred at this time than all the Christians put to death in the first three centuries of the church before Constantine.

Conclusion

So, what are we to make of Zwingli?

He certainly does not deserve a place with Luther and Calvin. He was not of the same ilk in understanding or action. In fact, many of his views would be counted as unorthodox today. He never seems to have left off the idea that human effort needed to combine with grace to save a man. Nor does he appear to have abandoned his humanism.

His trust in the sword and politics might have been his final undoing. We see nothing of the utter dependence on the Lord's sovereignty that marked so much of Luther's life. Nor is there anything from his pen of the stellar and profound quality of Calvin.

Still, he was used of God to shake many out of their unbelief. That his followers often practiced what he preached, is a testimony to the grace of the Lord in honoring His Word. We can learn from Zwingli, to be careful to ensure that all we think and do is framed by the Word of God - not tradition or expediency!

1 This made Zwingli two months the younger of Luther.

2 The Bondage of the Will, 14.

3 The Story of Christianity, Volume 2., Page 52.

Balthasar Hubmaier and Reformation Day

Mon, 05 Nov 2007 09:51:25 -0500

Balthasar Hubmaier (1480-1528) and Reformation Day

[There is some disagreement among scholars over precise dates in Hubmaier's life. The following paper is my best attempt to present a brief chronology of the man and his times. More needs to be written, however, on his life and ministry.]

Imagine reading your Bible and finding something there that no one was talking about or had talked about in your entire lifetime. Something like Luther reading Romans 1 and seeing for the first time justification by faith, not by works. Consider how your whole perception of the world would begin to unravel!

Add to this a hefty dose a political threat, in the form of "if you do what you read in this Bible, you will break the laws of the land." And imagine that the punishment was life imprisonment or even death. We often think of the Reformers as preachers and authors, in the same way we think of preachers and authors today. We forget what the world was like into which they were born.

Constantine, however well-intentioned, began the process of joining the Christian church to the state (the civil government) in the early 300's. By the end of the first millennium, there was essentially one Christian church that was as much a monarchial / political power as it was a spiritual body.

In the city-state structure of the day, to live in a generally walled city was to live by the laws of that city. Where religion was decided by law meant citizens were forced to adopt the religion of the city or be held in treason - as enemies of the state! Disobeying a priest was equivalent to disobeying any other civil authority - such as a police officer or Federal agent today. For example, it would be like saying you must be Protestant to live in Toronto. We would make that the law and cast out, kill or convert every non-Protestant that attempted to gain citizenship in our fair city!

"Freedom of religion" was unknown- where you were born (or where you lived) determined what you believed! And by the 1500's, there was hardly any true religion left in the state church - the Roman Catholic Church. This makes sense, in some ways. There was too much to lose for a person to resist the church - possessions, property, power, and even life. Thus, "everyone was a Christian" and sin was tolerated. Unbelievers clamored for positions of power in the church. Preaching shriveled up into a rehearsed repetition of languid superstition in a foreign tongue.

One year before Martin Luther nailed the 95 Theses on the Wittenburg church door, another doctor of theology began preaching in South Germany. He was a mighty preacher and popular among the common people - but he was not yet born again.

Balthasar Hubmaier was born in c. 1480-81 to poor tenant farmers. The young Balthasar showed promise in school, however, and through hard work he managed to pay his way through to a doctorate. He was 31 years old. He joined the priesthood and soon moved to Waldshut on the Rhine in 1521.

Hubmaier did what a good pastor should do - he studied his Bible and taught what it said. That may sound simple to us, but it was truly revolutionary in his context. He read Luther and kept testing what he was learning against the Word. At some point in 1522, the Lord saved him (c. 41 years old).

Soon after this he connected with Ulrich Zwingli, the lead reformer of the Swiss reformation in Zurich. It was with Zwingli that Hubmaier found much agreement on matters like the removal of the Mass, the destruction of idols, the Lord's Supper and believer's baptism. That's right. In 1523, Zwingli was teaching his followers what the Bible taught - saving faith must precede baptism.

But 1524-25 were to prove difficult years! First of all, Balthasar the priest found himself a wife, Elsbeth Hügline,... and, as the Apostle wrote, 28 "...those who marry will have worldly troubles, and I would spare you that."1 I will explain this a little later...

Hubmaier was back in Waldshut and wonderful things were taking place - reform was underway, the Gospel was going forward, souls were being saved and Hubmaier himself was finally baptized - months after coming to Baptistic convictions and writing about them. There is some evidence to suggest that a local revival was taking place and hundreds were converted under his ministry - in the space of about 18 months! Such renewal got the quick attention of the Holy Roman Empire and Ferdinand I (the Catholic King charged by the Pope to quench the Reformation) was intent on crushing the Protestant upheaval. Knowing that Waldshut would be attacked by Ferdinand's army if he stayed, Hubmaier went to see Zwingli in Zurich in order to spare his city.

But in the two years since his last visit, Zwingli had changed. Corad Grebel and Michael Sattler were already "feeling the heat" of this change. Zwingli's view of Reform was to gain the city council's approval for every change. Men like Grebel thought more in terms of "if the Lord says it, we must do it!" Earlier in the year these men had been forced out of Zurich by Zwingli.

When Hubmaier arrived in Zurich, Zwingli had him immediately arrested, and a disputation on baptism was convened. Being in Zurich, Zwingli, of course, was ruled to have won the debate and Hubmaier pressured to sign a recantation of his Baptistic views. Sign this he did, but when Zwingli ordered him to read his signed statement at the church, Hubmaier recanted the recantation and began to teach believer's Baptism. Pulled from the pulpit, he was subject to 7 months of torture. This culminated with being stretched on the rack... where he recanted his Baptistic views.2

Again this poor man recanted. He was quietly released from the city by a mocking Zwingli and fled Zurich for Moravia - at that time, a safe haven for Anabaptists.

In his two years of ministry in Moravia, it is estimated he baptized 6000 new converts! Revival was coming again, this time to Nicolsburg, Moravia. But it was not to last. Ferdinand was sending troops wherever Protestantism progressed and when Nicolsburg fell, Balthasar and Elsbeth were arrested and sent to Vienna. For the next 8 months, Hubmaier remained in prison on meager rations and prepared for death.

On March 3rd he was again brought to the rack and tortured there for 7 days. This time he bore the pain with fortitude, strength and grace. On March 10th he was burned alive at the stake with his dear wife exhorting him to remain faithful until death parted them in this life. Three days later they tied a stone around Elsbeth's neck and threw her into the Danube river to drown.

When the Council of Trent met in 1645 and condemned the works of the Reformers, Balthasar Hubmaier was grouped with Martin Luther, Ulrich Zwingli, and John Calvin as a heretic to the Church of Rome.

Although Hubmaier died at the young age of 48, he was used of God in two powerful ways: 1) the conversion of many! And 2) his writings. Two of his more important works are:

On Heretics and Those Who Burn Them

It consists of thirty-six articles and is framed by Hubmaier's motto, Truth is Unkillable. He promptly begins his defense by declaring that heretics are those who "wantonly resist the Holy Scripture" thus declaring all Roman clerics, monks and priests as the true herectics! That doesn't make you many friends.

On the Christian Baptism of Believers

This has often been described as Hubmaier's most significant writing. It is a response to Zwingli's Concerning Baptism, Rebaptism, and Infant Baptism the work "addressed numerous New Testament passages dealing with the subject of baptism. [It] was enormously popular and provoked an inflamed response by Zwingli as well as a reply by John Calvin. Although the work is an in-depth look at baptism in the New Testament, the argument is fairly simple. Hubmaier demonstrated that no passage commands the baptism of infants and that only believers are baptized. He demonstrated that a pattern exists in the New Testament passages concerning baptism. Generally, the texts begin by explaining that the word of God is preached, followed by an emphasis on hearing, then a change, repentance, or faith is displayed. Only after faith or repentance is evident does the person receive baptism. Often, external works follow baptism in the New Testament passages.3

What can we learn from the life of Balthasar Hubmaier?

1. True courage is driven by conviction. Hubmaier was not what would some would call a naturally courageous man. He didn't have the Luther bravado or the Zwinglian march into battle. In fact, his manly courage failed him on several occasions. But Hubmaier always made matters right. It takes another kind of courage to recant a recantation. That is a lonely place! You have abandoned your friends and now your enemy is doubly set against you. Yet, Hubmaier would not die a denier! In his Short Apology he wrote: "I may err, I am a man - but a heretic I cannot be... O God, pardon me my weakness!" Take courage Christian - God forgives those who fail under pressure. And the true Believers will prove themselves in the end. Mark 13:13 "You will be hated by all for my name's sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved."

2. A short life can accomplish much. Although Hubmaier's earthly spiritual life lasted only 7 years, he was used by God in the conversion of thousands, wrote works that are still in some use today and he lived faithfully in tumultuous times. Most Mennonite groups hold Hubmaier as "their Calvin," a man well-versed in the Scriptures and, had he lived longer, a man of remarkable Biblical insight.

3. Be ready to die. Would you die for the right to be baptized as a believer? We can barely fathom the question! Don't we just "agree to disagree" on this matter in our day? Well, yes. But for those of us who delight in the Bible's teaching of Believer's baptism, we ought to hold it with a degree of reverence. Our right to baptize believers, and our right to not baptize our children, was bought with blood. Men and women died over this. It is estimated over 4,000 of them. Are we prepared to follow them? For something as simple as believer's baptism? Can we say with Hubmaier, "Truth is Unkillable!" all the while knowing we are not?

Hubmaier was not perfect, but there is much in his life for which we can give glory to God. May He make us men and women of equal conviction, passion, evangelistic zeal and obedience.

1The Holy Bible : English standard version. 2001 . Standard Bible Society: Wheaton

2 Because of its mechanically precise, graded operation, it was particularly suited for hard interrogation, as to extract a confession. One gruesome aspect of being stretched too far on the rack is the loud popping noises made by snapping cartilage, ligaments or bones. Eventually, if the application of the rack is continued, the victim's limbs are ripped right off. One powerful method for putting pressure upon a prisoner was to merely force him to view someone else being subjected to the rack. A person stretched on the rack presented a spectacle of the body in pain. A victim would often be placed on the rack naked or nearly so, and their taut skin would run with the sweat of their agonies. Wrists and ankles would be swollen and bloodied from the bite of ropes or manacles. The spread-eagled posture left no part of the body invulnerable from the application of other devices like hot irons or pincers, or immune from the attention of those gathered to observe the torture. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_rack

3 http://cat.xula.edu/tpr/people/h%FCbmaier/

The Kingdom of God / Kingdom of Heaven

Wed, 24 Oct 2007 12:15:54 -0500

Kingdom of God / Heaven Through Time

Kingdom of God / Kingdom of Heaven refer to the same thing
- Scholars used to differentiate, but have come to consensus that Matthew was seeking to avoid direct reference to God out of deference to his Jewish audience
Almost all of works listed in bibliography trace the development of thought behind "kingdom of God" through OT, second temple Judaism, etc., more extensively than we do here
In the OT and second temple Judaism:
- Term does not appear in OT, but thought is consistent throughout
- Ruler of the kingdom of God was none other than YHWH himself (the Creator and Ruler of all that is created)
- Carried ideas of rule and dominion, though man rebelled
- Still, YHWH is sovereign and plans to redeem for himself a people over whom he will rule, of which Israel becomes a type
- Throughout Israel's books of prophecy there is a Davidic king expected who will establish and execute perfect sovereignty; spoken of in prophetic and even apocalyptic terms, thus associated with the end of the fallen creation
- Since prophecies are couched in covenantal language, Jews expected a national leader who would come and restore kingdom to Israel; physical, earthly rule was the given conception
In the rest of the NT:
- Phrase is used six time in Acts and eight times in Paul's epistles
- Three passages from the NT indicate that the kingdom of God / heaven is the same thing as the kingdom of Christ (Eph 5.5; Rev 11.15; 12.10)

Relevance to Understanding Jesus / the Gospels

There are over 100 reference to the kingdom of God / heaven in the synoptics
It is central to Jesus' thought, teachings, and ethics
t belongs to whoever obeys his commands (Mt 5.3, 11)

Kingdom of God / Heaven According to Jesus

Jesus forges his own concept of what the kingdom of heaven (expression of God's sovereign reign on earth) will be--not built entirely from OT thought
The concept of the kingdom of God is primarily dynamic, rather than spatial
- "Kingdominion," not physical land with borders
There are conditions to entrance into Christ's kingdom (Mt 5.3, 20; 7.21; Jn 3.3ff)
- Cannot, therefore, refer to God's absolute sovereignty
Kingdom of heaven in the narrower sense of God's rule is "that exercise of God's sovereignty which bears directly on his saving purposes. All who are in the kingdom have life..." (Carson, 12).
Can sometimes be used in a more ambiguous sense to refer to those who attempt to align themselves with God's purposes and people, but are ultimately separated (Mt 8.10-12; 13.24-30)
Has application for both the present and the future
- Kingdom of God has come (Mt 12.28) ("already")
- Kingdom of God will be consummated in the new heaven and new earth (Is 65.17; 66.22; 2 Pt 3.13; Rev 21.1) ("not yet")
Jesus himself warned not to expect the complete consummation of the kingdom during his earthly ministry (Lk 19.11-27)
Entrance into the kingdom of God is roughly equivalent to (though not entirely synonymous with) John's "eternal life" (cf. Mk 9.45, 47)
- Kingdom has connotations of authority and rule not associated with "life"
- Throughout the Sermon on the Mount Jesus stress how his followers are to live (see previous class handout by Dr. Constant on "Kingdom Ethics")
- The underlying truth is that God's rule is now mediated through Christ who has all authority (Mt 28.18) and he is the king whose commands we must obey if we claim to have citizenship in his kingdom (Mt 7.24-27)
Kingdom of God is the "great theme" of the Sermon on the Mount
- Inclusio of kingdom-possession beatitudes (Mt 5.3-11) shows that the heart of the people in whose hearts Christ reigns is characterized by the beatitudes
Kingdom is destined to be an eternal reality; it will continue to grow and finally prove victorious, though it faces much opposition now
"The history of redemption begins immediately (after Eden) the kingdom is lost, and tells of the way the kingdom of God will finally be established as a new people of God in fellowship with him in a new Eden, a new Jerusalem, a new heaven and a new earth" (Goldsworthy, 620).

Figures taken from Carson, pp. 13, 14.

Bibliography

* Achtemeier, Paul J, Joel B. Green and Marianne Meye Thompson. "Kingdom of God" in Introducing the New Testament: Its Literature and Theology. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2001, pp. 214-224.

Bock, Darrell L. Jesus According to Scripture. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2002, esp. pp. 574-579.

Caragounis, C.C. "The Kingdom of God/Heaven" in Joel B. Green, Scot McKnight and I. Howard Marshall, eds. Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1992, pp. 417-430.

* For the best popular-level explanation of the Kingdom of Heaven, see Carson, D.A. Jesus' Sermon on the Mount And His Confrontation with the World. Grand Rapids: Global Christian Publishers, 1999, pp. 11-16.

Duling, Dennis C. "Kingdom of God, Kingdom of Heaven" in David Noel Freedman's The Anchor Bible Dictionary, v.4. New York: Doubleday, 1992, pp. 49-69.

* Goldsworthy, G. "Kingdom of God" in T. Desmond Alexander, Brian S. Rosner, D.A. Carson and Graeme Goldsworthy's New Dictionary of Biblical Theology: Exploring the Unity & Diversity of Scripture. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2000, pp. 615-620.

Ladd, G.E. "Kingdom of God" in Geoffrey W. Bromiley, ed. International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, v.3. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1986, pp. 23-29.

* Stein, Robert H. "Kingdom of God" in Walter A. Elwell, ed. Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1996, pp. 451-454.

* The most helpful, reliable and / or easily accessible.

January 6-13

Thu, 18 Oct 2007 16:11:17 -0500

Our Winter Week of Prayer! Make sure to check our calendar for all the dates / times / locations, and don't miss out!

Ken Williams

Wed, 03 Oct 2007 15:48:42 -0500

Ken Williams was born at an early age in north Toronto. After joining with Grace Fellowship Church in 2005 he moved to Richmond Hill, where he currently resides. He has a great love for the word of God and hearing it preached week after week. He enjoys cooking, reading and playing bass guitar with the 'Band of Brothers' (for those interested check out Victor Wooten and Norm Stockton). Some of his favourite authors are John Owen, Jonathan Edwards, Thomas Brooks, John MacArthur, and D.A.Carson. Ken is very excited about serving at Grace Fellowship Church and seeing what the Lord will do. God is faithful. Ken has joyfully served as a deacon since 2007.