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Adding Nothing to the Gospel

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In his letter to the Galatians, Paul is deeply concerned about the gospel and its purity. Early in the letter, Paul speaks as harshly as we ever see him speak in Scripture. Inspired by God, the apostle pronounces that anyone who preaches any gospel other than the gospel that Paul had already been preaching should be accursed.

Galatians 1:6–9 – 6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7 not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.

In case the language of accursed is not clear, that is Paul saying that a person who would preach a false gospel, a warped and non-gospel gospel, should be thrown by God into hell forever. Thus, we can fairly conclude that this is a big deal.

When we see this strong language used in the beginning of the book, we should be asking two questions. First, we should be asking what it is that is being proclaimed by the false teachers in Galatia. What is it that Paul is speaking so harshly against? Added to that, we should ask if there is anything like that in our generation that we need to watch out to avoid.

For several paragraphs in chapters 1-2, Paul tells his story and defends the gospel as he has preached it. He is careful to let the Galatians know that he is not preaching what he preaches to be a man-pleaser. Paul heard the gospel as revelation from Jesus himself. And Paul preached the gospel with clarity. Paul did travel to Jerusalem to compare notes with the apostles after 14 years of being saved, but nothing in his gospel changed, not even a little bit.

So, what is Paul speaking out against? We see a hint early in chapter 2 as Paul talks about his trip to Jerusalem to conference with Peter and James.

Galatians 2:1–3 – 1 Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me. 2 I went up because of a revelation and set before them (though privately before those who seemed influential) the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles, in order to make sure I was not running or had not run in vain. 3 But even Titus, who was with me, was not forced to be circumcised, though he was a Greek.

To our modern ears, verse 3 seems to come out of left field. But, if we will pay attention, verse 3 brings to light a very significant element of the gospel that is in danger of being lost. The reason that Paul points out that Titus was not compelled to be circumcised is that this was what certain Jewish believers were attempting to add to the simple gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. These false teachers, known as Judaizers, believed that gentiles, because of their ethnicity and background, should be forced to submit to particular rituals and restrictions in order to be counted as Christians.

Now, we must grasp that, to some, this argument was quite persuasive. In fact, Peter almost falls for it as Paul points out later in chapter 2. Why was this persuasive? For centuries, there had been a clear difference in status between Jew and gentile in the Old Testament. The Jews were the chosen people of God. The Jews were the ones given the law of God, a good and perfect and holy law. And Old Testament gentiles who wanted salvation had to come to Israel and submit to the laws of God, including circumcision, in order to be forgiven.

Is it possible, then, now that Christ has come, that there is no longer any sort of division that is to be made in the church between people of differing ethnicities and backgrounds? What if the gentiles had been previously cruel and oppressive to the Jews? What if the gentiles had lived particularly immoral lives in their worship of false gods before their conversion? Should those gentiles not be put on equal footing with the Jews by being forced to obey the law that the gentiles had previously not known? Should they not at least still be forced to go through circumcision?

No! Paul is emphatic here. Titus was not forced to be circumcised. No gentile should be forced to be circumcised. There is no differing requirement for the gospel based on one’s ethnicity. And to add such a thing is to warp and destroy the gospel. Look why Paul says that he would not submit to those who pushed the addition of law requirements for gentiles.

Galatians 2:5 – to them we did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you.

Paul did not allow the addition of ethnic laws to the gospel because he wanted to preserve the gospel. Get this. Paul would not allow an addition of something beyond the gospel to the gospel because to do so would lose the gospel. That is why not adding to the gospel preserves the gospel.

Do we face anything like this today? Are there any who would threaten the gospel? Yes, there surely are. Any person who adds to the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ any element that is more than salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone is warping and destroying the gospel—they are preaching a non-gospel. We should beware, then, of who might be willing to add to the gospel. Religious cults add to the gospel. Legalistic moralists can come dangerously close to adding to the gospel. But what is most striking in our culture for today is the fact that, in some corners of evangelicalism in the United States, believers are bringing back into their discussion of the gospel divisions, and even at times new requirements for penance or shaming, based solely on ethnicity.

But the word of God is abundantly clear that, once we are in Christ, we take on brand new identities. No, we do not lose our ethnicity or culture. But we find who we are as defined by Christ and not by the past animosities that used to define us. Jews and gentiles hated one another. The supposed upper class looked down and mistreated the lower class. The rich often ignored the poor. But once we are in Christ, we take on the identity of Christian, and that identity is more important than all that went before.

Galatians 3:26-29- 26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.

The danger that we must avoid in today’s culture is to add to the gospel rules, laws, or penances that would elevate any group based on their ethnicity or past or denigrate any group based on their ethnicity or past. In Christ, we see that we are one family of God. The blood of Jesus Christ helps us to do away with all that socially divides us.

In Galatians, inspired by God, Paul particularly removes from the table any notion of making gentiles jump through extra hoops to be saved simply because of their gentile past. Paul also particularly removes any notion that Jews in the church were to be elevated to a higher position because of the oppression they faced at the hands of the gentiles. Instead, Paul was clear that, in Christ, we are now one family. And this principle must define the church of the Lord Jesus today. If we are going to keep the gospel, if we are going to preserve the genuine promise of God as Paul did in this book, we must not allow secular thought to bring additions to the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ that divide us based on our pasts, good or bad. Because the gospel is so plain and so transformative, we must identify as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ first and foremost, and we must avoid anything else that we could welcome into our identities that would then splinter us based on social status, former religion, skin tone, native language, or anything else like these.

May God protect his church from any temptation to add anything to the only saving gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Holiness and Anthropology

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What you believe about God determines what you will understand to be true of man. What you believe to be true of God and man will determine a great deal of how you think about every issue of life. Thus, if you get the issue of the holiness of God and the sinfulness of man wrong, you will have a warped view of all the rest of the world.

As I was working through my daily Bible reading, I found myself in the book of Numbers. I think, for many of us, a read through the early chapters of Numbers is, admittedly, not the easiest thing to do. Our eyes glaze over as we hear details about how many were in each tribe or whose job it is to carry what part of the tent. But if we will let ourselves listen to the significance of the details, we will learn something about theology and anthropology that will impact our world.

In Numbers 4, God was doling out the responsibilities of the Levites regarding the carrying of the tabernacle. Different groups would carry the items from inside the tent. Other groups would carry the poles and coverings of the tent itself. But it was the job of Aaron, the high priest, and his sons to pack up all the sacred things inside the tent. Aaron and his sons would be sent in to wrap every holy item up in the tent coverings so that they could not be touched or seen by those who would carry them.

Numbers 4:15–19 – 15 And when Aaron and his sons have finished covering the sanctuary and all the furnishings of the sanctuary, as the camp sets out, after that the sons of Kohath shall come to carry these, but they must not touch the holy things, lest they die. These are the things of the tent of meeting that the sons of Kohath are to carry.
16 “And Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest shall have charge of the oil for the light, the fragrant incense, the regular grain offering, and the anointing oil, with the oversight of the whole tabernacle and all that is in it, of the sanctuary and its vessels.”
17 The LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, 18 “Let not the tribe of the clans of the Kohathites be destroyed from among the Levites, 19 but deal thus with them, that they may live and not die when they come near to the most holy things: Aaron and his sons shall go in and appoint them each to his task and to his burden,

Notice that God tells us why it is so important that the Kohathites not see or touch the holy things. If they do, they will die. Touching the ark of the covenant would mean instant death. And even looking upon the holy things would kill.

Stop. Think about that. Let it sink in. Seeing the holy, even for a Levite who would carry the holy thing, would bring death. You have to let the weight of that thought sink in if you are going to have a proper, biblical view of mankind in comparison to God.

Every human being, even those of the priestly Levitical tribe, is a sinner. Thus, every human being falls short of the holiness of God (Rom. 3:23). Because we swim in a sea of humanity, surrounded by one another in our weaknesses, we assume that this is a problem, but not an ultimate problem. Of course we are appalled by the evils of some who would hurt children or start unjust wars, but in general, we assume that the average human being who lives an average life with an average family in an average town is on average good. WE assume that person to be at worst neutral and thus deserving of the favor of God.

But stop again and think about this. God’s holy ark—a gold covered box—was so sacred simply as a representation of something holy that for an unauthorized priest to look at it would cost him his life. The holiness of God is consuming and deadly to a sinful man.

A proper, biblical anthropology will tell you that every human being under Adam is by nature and choice a rebel against God. We are tainted by that rebellion so that we fall infinitely short of the holiness and perfection of God. For us to be brought into the presence of God without God actively shielding us from his holiness would be to bring about our immediate destruction. And that destruction is perfect just and right, because God is holy, perfect, pure, and the ultimate standard by which we are judged. We have no excuse for our sin. WE have no demand that we can make on God. We are hopeless and helpless, deserving of wrath. That is not because we are worse than other people who are good—none are good. IT is because we are less than the perfection God’s holiness demands.

And this, of course, makes us love the gospel. God sent his Son who lived the only holy human life ever lived. And Jesus died to pay the penalty for our sins. And Jesus rose from the grave. And Jesus tells us that all who come to him in faith are both forgiven of their sins and sanctified, set apart, made holy by God. Thus, all who come to Jesus in faith and repentance are covered by his grace and his perfection so that we can be made children of God.

But, Christians, understand that the Bible is clear that this grace is a gift we do not deserve. WE are not holy. The holiness of God is deadly. If God does not cover us, we die, and rightly so. These facts must shape your understanding of humanity, otherwise you will misunderstand the gospel and be deeply confused regarding issues of life, faith, and justice.

Shepherds’ Conference 2019 Session 9 Notes

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Session 9

Phil Johnson

Faithful to Guard

2 Timothy 2

Context

Ministry involves warfare.

It is an unrelenting battle.

Jesus told us the world would hate us because it hated him.

Paul tells us all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

Evil people and imposters will go from bad to worse.

If you want to be a church leader, you must be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and rebuke those who contradict it.

Paul has clearly spoken to Timothy multiple times not to tolerate false teaching.

Guard the church and guard your own heart and mind and passions.

Keep a close watch on yourself and the teaching.

Flee youthful passions.

Flee both lust and the fleshly desire to argue about everything.

2 Timothy 2:14-ff

A rebuke and corrective to those of us who like to be contentious.

Verse 24, Be kind to everyone

Earlier in the chapter, Paul uses three metaphors.

Soldier, athlete, and farmer

We as ministers are not lords over the flock, nor warlords and always attacking.

We should desire Christlike gentleness.

A hymn introduces our section.

If we endure, we will reign.

If we deny him, he will deny us.

2 Timothy 2:14-26

Here is Paul’s own commentary on 1 Timothy 4:16, keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching.

How can we guard ourselves and the teaching?

Three-fold answer

Be an approved workman

Be a sanctified vessel.

Be a humble slave.

  • Be an approved workman – Guard your own teaching

The early church had false teachers all over the place early on.

Paul, John, and Peter all address significant doctrinal errors.

Even Christ’s letters to the church in Revelation 2 and 3 point to the damage done by false teachers.

False teaching from within the church is a far greater threat than all the combined persecution of the church from outside.

Verse 17, Paul names two examples of dangerous, false teachers.

1 Tim 1:20, The two mentioned are selling a preterist view of NT eschatology.

They might have denied literal resurrection.

Johnson makes some strong comments on preterism and preterists.

Paul refutes their false doctrine in 1 Corinthians 15.

True believers believe in a literal resurrection to come.

Here Paul just tells Timothy not to waste his time quarreling with these guys.

No, he is not telling Timothy to ignore it.

He is telling Timothy that this bad doctrine does not deserve to be treated with scholarly gravitas.

Timothy is not to engage these foolish men in a prolonged debate.

There is no reason to get into a protracted argument with someone who has clearly already refused biblical correction.

Arguing with these guys at length might serve no other purpose but to broaden their audience.

What do we do, then?

Do your best to present yourself faithful, rightly handling the word of truth.

Accurately handling, make a straight cut.

Devote yourself to the diligent study of the word of God.

You will accomplish much more by teaching faithful truth.

Instruction is a better way of dealing with error than with taunting and insults.

Paul was not discouraging Timothy from refuting false teachers.

HE was telling us that how one refutes false teaching is important.

Paul’s rebukes were tempered with patience and teaching.

Paul was, occasionally, sharp.

Sometimes he used biting sarcasm.

But that is an exception, not his normal tone.

How could Paul be so gracious and patient?

Paul had a trust in the sovereignty of god.

See verse 20.

The Lord knows those who are his.

If we stand for the truth, God will humble the rebels.

The real challenge for us is to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God.

Paul did not share the combative temperament of discernment podcasters and bloggers today.

Elders must not be pugnacious.

That is the opposite of the fruit of the Spirit.

Guard the truth, but start by guarding your own teaching, including the tone and temperament of what you teach.

  • Be a sanctified vessel

Verse 21-ff

There are honorable and dishonorable vessels.

Jeremiah 18, God is the great Potter.

Isaiah 29:16; Lamentations 4:2

Notice, earthen pots that are worth their weight in gold.

2 Corinthians 4:7, treasure in jars of clay

Verse 21, Depart from iniquity and cleanse yourself.

How?

Verse 22, Flee what is unholy and follow what is holy.

Guard against lust.

But guard against all sorts of sinful self-gratification.

Proud, youthful arrogance also wages war against the soul.

14-19, be an approved workman by guarding your teaching.

20-22 Be a sanctified vessel by guarding your heart.

  • Be a humble slave by guarding your attitude.

Verses 23-26, Be a humble servant.

We are not the CEO of the church.

We are shepherds and teachers.

We lead, but never lord it over those in our charge.

We are to be last of all and slave of all.

Paul did not play the discernment blogger role.

He did not go out to chase down everybody else.

Notice that Jesus was never unkind or abusive.

Jesus did not grab Saul with unkind words of condemnation.

Jesus was tender with Paul.

Paul had been ruthless before his conversion.

His attitude was very different afterward.

Yes, his rebukes were occasionally sharp.

But that was not his only tone.

Sometimes, even in the face of gross evil, a sharp rebuke can be inappropriate.

Paul apologized for a sharp rebuke of the high priest in Acts.

Verse 24, Be kind, patiently enduring evil.

Foolish, ignorant controversies only breed quarrels.

Not every controversy is foolish.

Sometimes controversies, even over important issues, can become foolish and ignorant.

Paul is telling Timothy not to engage an unteachable teacher.

Timothy needs to know not to give these guys a platform.

Paul does not want us to seek strife.

Paul would engage the teachable happily.

But Paul will not engage the hardened who only want to do harm.

The brutal arrogance that we see inn on-line discussion forums is contrary to faithful gospel teaching.

Gentle correction is good.

Being patient is part of the role of an elder.

Our goal is not to condemn people, but to deliver them from the strongholds of error.

If you want to be a guardian of the truth, but you consistently throw scorn on the message of this text, you sacrifice a significant amount of credibility in everything else you say.

Put away bitterness, wrath, clamor, slander, anger, etc.

Be an approved workman.

Be a sanctified vessel.

Be a humble slave.

Guard your heart, your attitude, your tone.

Hold fast to the faithful word as you have been taught.

Rejecting a Warning from Heaven

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One problem that some express with biblical Christianity is the concept of judgment. Those who oppose the faith have a strong dislike of the idea that God would cast into hell those who do not come to him for salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. They feel that this is unfair, unkind, or simply not open-minded enough.

But a look at the word of God, in just about any place in the word of God, will show that this has indeed always been the way of God. The Lord has had a particular way that he is to be approached. The Lord has defined a particular way that his favor is granted. And those who refuse him by refusing to come to him in the way he defines are subject to his judgment.

In the Old Testament, this was true of the sacrificial system. Individuals were told by God exactly what offerings to offer in order to be forgiven. God told them also what animals could be offered that would have been unacceptable. What do you suppose would have been the right response of God to one who would slaughter a pig on the altar instead of a lamb? That person would not have found the forgiveness of god, no matter how much that person wanted the pig to be the right offering. It simply was not acceptable to the Lord.

Or how about this warning I came across in my daily reading from Hebrews 12?

Hebrews 12:25- See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven.

In the Old Testament, people did not escape the judgment of God when they heard his warnings given from men on earth. Nobody called this unfair. If a prophet of God gave you a warning, it was your responsibility to follow the direction of that prophet to be in the favor of God. Well, take the argument from the lesser to the greater. If we know that ignoring a warning from earth leaves us under judgment, how much worse for us must it be if we ignore the voice of God warning us from heaven?

The Holy Scriptures are the voice of God going out over the entire world. God has made it plain in the word of God that there is one and only one way to approach him. That way is broad, meaning that it is open to all people of all nations and all backgrounds. Any person, rich or poor, young or old, free or slave, man or woman, any person anywhere who will repent of their sin and come to Jesus in faith will find forgiveness.

But that way is also narrow. How? It is the only way. God is in no way obligated to make a second path to his grace. God has provided the entrance. God has provided the Savior. God has provided the only sacrifice that can cover our sins. To reject that in favor of anything else, no matter how nice it may seem is to reject the grace of the one who speaks from heaven. And there is no life to be found in that sort of rejection.

Shepherds’ Conference 2019 Session 8 Notes

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Session 8

Joel Beeke

Read 1 Peter 2:19-25

Faithful in Criticism

81% of American ministers say their greatest problem in ministry is dealing with criticism.

You will be known more by your reactions than by your actions.

It is easy for ministers to become pessimistic when we have large doses of criticism.

But this may have pride at the core.

Do we think we deserve better than we receive?

Paul said he learned to be content in all circumstances.

How?

Seminary does not train you to cope with criticism.

You have to deal with it every time you are criticized.

It is possible that I can learn to deal with criticism externally, so people think I look good, but not internally.

We are to cope with criticism faithfully internally too.

Ten ways to handle criticism.

  1. Consider criticism to be inevitable.

You may get a honeymoon period as a minister.

Matthew 10:16, 22

Old Dutch saying, “He who stands up in front will be kicked in the rear.”

  1. Consider the motive and the source.

Be sure to first listen well.

Get the facts straight.

But also ask yourself, “Have I heard the real problem>”

Is there something deeper behind the statement?

Give your critic the benefit of the doubt.

Assume his motive to be pure unless you have solid reasons to think otherwise.

Flatterers who fawn over you will be the first to turn against you if you do not give them the attention they want.

Beware of power players.

Beware of gossipers.

Beware of those with a critical spirit.

You have to ask, “Who is criticizing me?”

But if a critic is a mature believer who is usually supportive, take that seriously.

There is usually some truth in what they say.

Do not overreact to complaints only raised by a few.

Give due weight to the character of the one complaining.

  1. Consider the content.

You can learn from criticism.

God uses critics for our humbling.

Faithful are the wounds of a friend, Proverbs 27:6.

Critics can show us our blind spots.

What are they saying that might help me improve myself and my ministry?

Confess, repent, and ask for forgiveness.

If the critic offers nothing helpful, thank them for caring and then move on.

Sometimes you need to throw yourself into work for a few hours and return to thinking about what was said after thinking about something else for a while.

Do not try to explain or justify yourself at length.

Your friends do not need it and your enemies will not believe you.

You are not to avenge yourself.

Do not try to track down every whisper.

You are a shepherd, not a policeman.

You may have to give up trying to appease some critics.

In heaven, your believing critics and you will get along.

You will not see your unbelieving critics there.

If you are 10% wrong, just go and ask for forgiveness.

Usually that will help the brother who caused the other portion.

  1. Consider the context, the timing, and prayer.

IF at all possible, ask for 24 hours to think and pray about the issue.

In 24 hours, people tend to be a lot more reasonable and more mellow.

Prayer helps.

  1. Consider yourself.

Critics can guard you from selfishness.

You would not be the man of God you are without going through the criticisms you have.

Criticism makes you more tender as a shepherd to the sheep.

If you habitually feel slighted and neglected, look into what might be happening there.

Take to your side some accountability partners.

Get a trustworthy friend, perhaps an elder or deacon in your church.

Try to have an elder or minister in another congregation who can help you.

  1. Consider Scripture.

Trials sometimes make you cling to particularly helpful texts of Scripture.

  1. Consider Christ.

Jesus suffered and did not react in anger.

IF Jesus was attacked though he is perfect, what should we pastors expect?

The truth is, our critics do not know how bad we really are.

God does.

Christ is so perfect and endured so much for me, how could I not endure much for him?

  1. Consider the patience of the saints.

Nehemiah showed great patience.

His critics deployed the weapon of ridicule.

We all have insecurities hidden inside of us.

Nehemiah reminded himself that the source of his vision is god.

He adjusted his plan without abandoning his vision.

A failed plan does not indicate a failed vision.

Do not grow weary in doing good.

  1. Consider your duty to love, even to love the one who criticizes you.

Become better acquainted with those who criticize you.

You cannot love the unknown.

Be willing to forgive any injury done to you.

Pray with your critic.

But be careful in your prayer not to come against him.

Pray for your critic in private.

IT is hard to stay bitter against a critic for whom you genuinely prayer.

Feel compassion for your negative critic.

Put away anything that inhibits love.

Keep loving your critic.

  1. Consider eternity.

The Savior awaits us.

He will never let us down.

WE want to hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

We want him to wipe away every tear.

Jesus knows us completely.

He is the friend who sticks closer than a brother.

He will make all wrongs right.

He will deal with every injustice.

In heaven, there will be perfect unity.

We will understand that all the criticism used here on earth was used in the hands of God as the Potter to shape us.

We will see fully that all the criticisms we endure on earth were a light affliction compared to the eternal glory.

In heaven, we will be more than repaid for every affliction we endured for the sake of Jesus.

Keep your positive view of ministry.

You are on your way to heaven.

Jesus will carry you all the way.

Ministers do the most important job on earth.

WE need not be disillusioned.

We are ambassadors for Christ.

God will not allow criticism that he does not also provide grace for you to bear.

Your Savior is greater than any critic.

HE will not desert you.

We are nothing.

Jesus is everything.

God and Our Fears

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Fear stinks. I’m not here talking about the holy, reverent, proper fear of God. I’m talking about all the rest of fear. I’m talking about the fear of man—they might know me, they might hurt me, they might not like me. I’m talking about the fear of the future—I might get sick, I might not have enough money, I might not survive.

How do I know fear stinks? God’s word is pretty clear about that fact. And, if I’m honest, I know what it is like to be afraid. No matter how strong any of us pretends to be, we deal with fears. Whether your constitution is generally more robust or weaker, I expect that you know something of fear. And, let’s be honest, it really stinks.

I thought a bit about fear as these two very separate passages happened to come up during my daily reading plan.

Psalm 27:1

The Lord is my light and my salvation;
whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life;
of whom shall I be afraid?

Hebrews 13:5–6

5 Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” 6 So we can confidently say,
“The Lord is my helper;
I will not fear;
what can man do to me?”

God inspired the writers of Scripture to say things that you and I need to hear. And in this pairing of verses, God speaks clearly to us about fear. Both passages clearly acknowledge that fear is a real thing. If it were not, it would be silly for God to speak of it to us. God knows that fear will be a danger for us. And God has a solution for us.

In both passages, what is the solution for fear? We see David ask, “Whom shall I fear?” We see the writer to the Hebrews remind us of the line, “I will not fear.” But how? How do we overcome fear, especially when we know fear is not a generally rational thing.

In both passages, we see the same answer to fear. It is a genuine trust in the Lord. “Whom shall I fear” is not a question asked alone. It applies when the psalmist declares that the Lord is his light, salvation, and the stronghold of his life. In Hebrews, it is the presence of God, our helper, who will never leave nor forsake us, that helps us overcome fear. In both places, fear is conquered, not by the “power of positive thinking,” not by ignoring reality, but totally by knowing, relying on, and resting in God.

Fear stinks because it eats us up inside. Fear stinks even more because it displays that, for that moment, we are not believing in the Lord we say is our God. Fear stinks because it dishonors our Lord and makes us live like those with no hope.

How then shall we conquer that fear? We must remember. We need to remember the reality of our God. We need to remember that our God is with us. We need to remember that our God is faithful. We need to remember that he has staked his reputation on the fact that he will not leave us or forsake us. We remember our God, we remember eternity, we remember the strength of the Lord, and we learn to rest. No, this is not easy. You will need to work at it. You will need to pray through it. You will need Christian friends to remind you of the truths of God’s word when your mind is refusing to go there. But believers battle fear with faith in the Lord who saves us.

Shepherds’ Conference 2019 Session 7 Notes

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Session 7

Ligon Duncan

John 4:1-26

Faithfulness in Worship

before the passage

5 things that show us why concern for our worship and for congregational worship is so important.

  1. You cannot commend what you do not treasure.

Your Lord is more important than anything. If you do not worship God that way, you cannot commend him to others in that way.

  1. You cannot proclaim and worship the one true and living God unless you worship him as he is.

He must be known by his own truth, his own self-revelation, his own word.

  1. What you do together as a congregation on the Lord’s Day is formative.

The Puritans knew that they could not be protestant with Roman Catholic worship, even with protestant theology in the sermon.

The whole worship must be founded on the word of god and set forth explicitly the finished work of Christ.

Watch out for the move to entertainment in worship.

Be careful not to say one thing and demonstrate another by the service.

Hear and do the word.

You will always believe what you do more than what you hear.

  1. There is a theme across the whole of Scripture that you become what you worship.

Don’t worship idols; you’ll become like them.

You need to worship the one true and living God.

  1. You become how you worship.

Often how you worship determines who you worship.

Now to the text…

Two-part outline:

Who? (7-15)

How? (16-26)

What happens after “Give me a drink” is amazing.

This is better than “These are not the droids you are looking for.”

She rebuffs Jesus.

The whole first part of this conversation is about who we ought to value more than anything else.

If you knew who was asking you, you would have asked him for living water.

If you knew the gift of God and who was talking to you, you would have asked him.

Jesus is inviting her into a prophetic conversation.

Look to Jeremiah 2:13.

They have rejected me, the fountain of living water, and turned to broken cisterns.

Jesus is identifying himself as the living water.

John 6, Jesus is the bread of life.

But he also says that whoever comes to him will never thirst.

Here is the first and most important question of all our lives: whom do you worship?

Jesus said he is the living water.

She asks, in verse 15, for that water.

He told her she should have said, give me this water.”

In verse 15, she says, ‘Give me this water.”

Awkward interlude follows.

Go call your husband.

I have no husband.

Jesus puts his finger on her idolatry.

The Pharisees frowned on remarriage three times or more.

And this woman is living with a man right now.

Perhaps she needed security.

Jesus puts his finger right on her false security.

The big question, Whom do you worship, whom do you value, who meets your needs?

You have had 5 husbands.

You must be a prophet.

She raises a topic of some argument between Jews and Samaritans.

And she walks right into what Jesus wants to talk about.

How? (15-26)

How do you worship that who?

Verse 20, This mountain or that mountain?

Jeroboam led the Samaritans into unbiblical worship.

They even changed the Pentateuch to fit their practice.

Interesting, when the woman feels threatened, she goes from singular to plural.

She talks about your people and her people.

Jesus moves her right back to the singular with the word, woman.

That was not disrespectful.

He called his mother, woman, after all.

He is respectful to an obstinate sinner.

Jesus is letting her know that she is going to worship the Father.

Your theological problem is that you have worshipped not according to the word.

The Jews have worshipped according to the word.

An hour is coming when true worshippers will worship in spirit and truth.

That is what the Father seeks.

There seems to be a change in location of where you will worship.

That is coming.

Her response is interesting.

We do not think this is normal for Samaritans.

She is dialed in to the promise of the coming of Messiah.

Messiah will reveal God to us.

Then Jesus says, “I am.”

The Messiah is talking to her.

She believes right there.

The living word speaks the word to her, she believes, she worships right there.

Could this be the Messiah?

Messiah, word, faith, worship

If God is spirit, there is only one way you can worship God who is Spirit, and that is how he tells you to.

Otherwise, how would you know how to worship a spirit?

How would you know how to approach a Spirit.

You cannot see a spirit.

How do you approach a spirit?

However he tells you to.

Spirit and truth are not two separate categories.

HE is spirit, that is true.

The only way you can worship God, who is spirit, is according to his word.

Worship is engaging with God on the terms that he proposes and in the way that he alone makes possible.

You engage with a spirit only on the terms he promises.

What are those terms?

His word.

And only in the way he makes possible.

No man comes to the Father except through the Son.

Our worship must be formed and filled by the word.

If we want the people to get God in the service, the service must be filled with the word.

The structure and the substance, the form and content, of our service must be filled with the word.

Read, preach, pray, sing, and see the word.

The word is more important than your sermon.

Read the Scripture.

Preach the word.

The word is not your tool to reach the people of God.

You are the word’s tool to deliver a message to the people of God about God and godliness.

Pray the word.

You always know you are praying in the will of God when you pray his word back to him.

Your people will believe what they sing more than what you preach.

See the word.

Baptism and Lord’s Supper show us the promises of God in Christ visibly displayed.

If we want to bring people to God, the only way to do that is by the word.

We need the word in every aspect of worship.

Loving Worship

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Would it seem strange to you to hear me say that God wants you to love worship? Do not think that I’m talking about some sort of showy, theatrical, high-energy concert of Christian music when I say that. I am simply meaning the regular, week-to-week, simple gathering of the people of God in the presence of God for the glory of God. I’m talking about the ordinary, often broken, weak, struggling, growing people of God gathering to hear the word, to pray, to sing, to participate in ceremony like Lord’s Supper, and to encourage one another.

If you look at the way many churches shape the services of worship or at the way many Christians look at the week-to-week services, I think you would find that it is a surprise to consider that God wants us to love that gathering. God wants us to love worship.

Look at what David said in Psalm 26.

Psalm 26:8

O Lord, I love the habitation of your house
and the place where your glory dwells.

David said he loves the place of God’s habitation. He was speaking in context about the place where God was worshipped. He was talking about the altar and acts of formal worship. David said to God that he loved being where God is biblically worshipped.

And I think that concept is often lost. Some churches shape their entire services for entertainment, trying to spin up a feeling among the people so they feel like they got something out of the gathering. Others try to put on a show so that lost people will think that Christians are doing something cool and worth seeing another time. I fear that many who are believers look at the services as obligations to check off their list from Sunday to Sunday.

But when David wrote this Psalm, in a section where David was trying to express his genuine devotion to God, he simply declared that he loves the habitation of God’s house, the place of God’s worship. David loved to be where God was actually honored in accord with his commands. It did not require extra technology. It did not require a type of creativity that God did not command. It was not focused on enticing the lost outsider to enter in. It was simply glorifying God for the purpose of glorifying God. It was rejoicing in the forgiveness of God.

So, Christian, do you love the habitation of God? Do you love the glory of God? Are you able to rejoice at the opportunity that you have from Sunday to Sunday to gather together with the people of God for the purpose of displaying the glory of God? Do you love hearing God’s word proclaimed? Do you love glorifying God in song, simple and true song? It is good to love the worship of the Lord.

Shepherds Conference 2019 Session 6 Notes

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Session 6

Tom Pennington

Faithful in the Home

Are you faithful in fulfilling the duties that Christ has assigned us to our wives and to our children?

The greatest thing that you can do for your children is to love your wife.

Ephesians 5:21-ff

Whether you do it or not, whether you like it or not, husband, you are the head of your wife.

IF there are problems in your marriage, you may not bear all the guilt, but you bear the complete responsibility.

We have one calling in our marriage.

Three basic insights about faithfulness in marriage.

Love—our primary calling

Love’s primary expressions

Love’s primary goals

  • Our Primary Calling

Verse 25

Love your wives

Ephesians is about the eternal plan of God

Chapters 1-3 are the indicative’s of the gospel.

Chapters 4-6, walk worthy of that gospel.

In 5:15, Paul says he wants us to walk in wisdom.

Verse 18, be filled with the Spirit.

Allow the Spirit to fill you with a deeper understanding of God’s word so that you can walk in biblical wisdom.

19-21, Paul explains the primary consequences of being under the Spirit’s influence.

Love for God-centered music

Pattern of thanksgiving

A heart of submission to human authority.

Note, verse 21 is not a calling to mutual submission between husbands and wives.

It is a calling to submission to rightful authority.

5:22-6:9 is about submission to rightful authority.

Paul speaks at length about the husband’s responsibility.

That is unusual in this section. Paul usually speaks more to the one under authority and not to the one in authority.

The call for husbands to love their wives is unheard of in the first century.

This was not a normal family command.

The chief imperative to love your wife is a reminder that marriage is not about what you get out of it.

Marriage, like everything else in your life as a believer, is about loving God and loving others.

The command is addressed to all husbands.

This allows no exception.

Even if your spouse changes, the imperative has not changed.

This command is not conditioned on her obedience to Christ.

IT is about your obedience to Christ.

It is not about how attractive you think she is.

Love is not primarily about physical attraction but spiritual commitment.

Love is not motivated by the actions of the object loved but in the will of the one loving.

Love begins not with the emotions but with the will.

The fact that God commands us to love is evidence that love is an act of our will.

We have one primary calling as husbands, love your wife as Christ loved the church.

How are we to love?

  • Love’s primary expressions (25-30)

Two pictures:

Christ’s treatment of the church

Our treatment of our bodies

Our love for our wives must be a sacrificial love.

Christ gave himself up for the church.

Galatians 2:20; 1 John 3:16

Be willing to follow Christ’s example and be willing to lay down your life for your wife.

But this is not only on the big issue of death.

Simple and daily sacrifices are required.

Leadership is not about asserting your rights and your authority, it is about serving your wife.

Does your wife think you regularly sacrifice to serve her?

How do you do this?

Each day you put her interests above your own. — Mark 10:45; John 13

Every day, we can put away our distractions, make eye contact, and have a real conversation.

Discover a way that your wife genuinely knows that you love her, and do that consistently.

Open up and disclose yourself to her. (john 5:20; 14:21; 15:15)

Sanctifying love (26-27

Christ cleansed the church.

Titus 3:5, So that he might sanctify her.

HE cleansed us at the moment of salvation.

He then set out to sanctify us.

Jesus did not only die for us to save us.

He intends to make us holy.

Verse 27, be holy and blameless.

That is the kind of thing he is pointing out with the metaphor of a bride without spot or wrinkle.

Like Christ, your greatest concern for your wife must be her spiritual wellbeing.

Does she know Christ?

Is she growing in sanctification?

How do we help here?

Begin with pursuing sanctification yourself.

Do nothing that exposes your wife to sin and temptation.

Imitate Christ’s own spiritual care for his bride.

John 17 is an example of Jesus praying for the church’s sanctification.

Be careful not to become bitter when she sins against you.

Is your wife more like Jesus Christ in her moral character because she is married to you?

Love your wife as your own body, verse 28.

You provide for and care for your own body.

Your wife is part of you.

It is as reasonable to care for her as it is for your own body.

We protect and care for our bodies.

It is against both the law of nature and the law of God to fail to protect your wife.

A nourishing love (28)

3 physical needs a husband must meet for his wife in the OT.

Food, clothing, and conjugal rights.

It is a sin if we are lazy and refuse to care for our wives.

It is a sin if we seek a lavish lifestyle that we cannot support.

It is a sin if we neglect intimacy with our wives.

A cherishing love (29)

Cherish is to tenderly care for.

1 Thessalonians 2:7 uses that cherish word of a nursing mother.

Our responsibility to our wives is not simply to provide for their needs, we are supposed to cherish them and care for them with the same tender affection we have as we care for our bodies.

We fail to cherish them when we neglect them for sports, hobbies, video games, male friends, or even ministry.

We fail to cherish our wives when we use our words as weapons.

Ephesians 5:29, Christ cherishes his body, the church.

Verse 30, we, individually, are members of Christ’s body.

He cherishes us not only as a group but also individually.

Christ verbally expresses his love for us.

Scripture repeatedly tells us of Christ’s love.

Christ comforts, protects, provides for, sympathizes with us.

Christ goes well beyond just meeting our needs.

Churchill illustration: “If I could not be who I am, I would most like to be Lady Churchill’s second husband.”

Paul could have given all these commands to us for our children too.

  • Love’s primary goals (31-32)

Why is our obedience here so important?

To reflect the original design of God (31)

To point to the ultimate love (32)

Paul connects Genesis 2:24 to Christ and the church.

In eternity past, God decided to save sinners through the work of his Son.

God created marriage as a living illustration of that glorious relationship that believers have with the Son of God.

Your marriage exists as a living illustration of Christ and the church.

Your marriage speaks to those around you about Christ every day.

If we do not love our wives, we are no longer preaching the truth about Christ.

IF we leave our wife, we lie about Christ.

If we harm our wife, we lie about Christ.

If we commit adultery, we lie about Christ.

Shepherds’ Conference 2019 Session 5 Notes

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Session 5

Voddie Baucham

2 Timothy 1:8-12

Faithful in Persecution

There is a difference between persecution and general suffering.

Persecution is a suffering that we endure at the hands of our adversary specifically because of his hatred of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Every man will suffer in human life.

Not every man will be persecuted.

Persecution can be avoided.

All you have to do is compromise.

Persecution is suffering with a choice, with an option, that you don’t have to go through if you just stop preaching, stop believing, or just say that you stopped believing.

The persecuted have this in common: They were given the option, and they said they cannot.

2 timothy 1, we will primarily study 8-12.

Paul is in prison again—a repeat offender.

He knows he is about to die for his faith and his preaching.

Paul writes to Timothy and says that Timothy must preserve and proclaim the truth of the gospel.

Paul fears the perversion of the gospel.

So he tells Timothy in every chapter to preserve and proclaim the gospel.

1:12; 2:2; 3:14; 4:2

Paul calls Timothy to endure the suffering that must follow as a result of preserving and proclaiming the gospel.

1:8; 2:3; 2:8; 3:10; 4:5

The message of 2 Timothy is this: Timothy, they are about to kill me for preaching the gospel. When they do, you preach the gospel until they kill you too.

In chapter 1 we get the theological underpinning.

Faithfulness in the midst of persecution

Verses 8-12, especially 8.

Share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God.

Shared Suffering

The theme of this letter is that Paul will die for the gospel, and he tells Timothy that it is then Timothy’s job to step in and share in that suffering too.

Verse 8 – Do not be ashamed, but suffer.

Verse 12, I suffer but am not ashamed.

Chapter 2:3, share in suffering as a good soldier.

Romans 8:16, if children, we are fellow heirs, provided that we suffer with him.

2 Corinthians 1:5, as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings…

Sharing both in sufferings and comfort.

Philippians 1:29, It has been granted to you that you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake.

Paul calls Timothy to join in suffering.

Not just personally suffer, but join me, join us, join Christ in suffering.

WE join Christ in his suffering because it is in the suffering of Christ that we find our place with him.

But also, in suffering with Christ, we are delivered to Christ and to one another, becoming part of the body of Christ.

Christ suffered for me on the cross, and because of that he purchased my salvation.

But Christ has suffered for me through his bride, his body, the church to bring the gospel to me.

As you and I join Christ in his suffering, we are not just joining Jesus in his suffering in our salvation, but we labor and suffer for the gospel as we take his gospel to the nations.

The adversary hates Christ, hates the gospel, and because of this, he hates us too.

We suffer, but we are not alone.

Our suffering is not over, because not all have heard the gospel.

Suffering for the Gospel

God gives us Christ’s body.

God gives us the gospel.

The gospel has not finished doing its work.

Paul suffers as he does because of the gospel.

Suffering for the gospel is worth it.

The gospel is not your gospel; it’s Christ’s gospel.

WE can make an idol out of “gospel.”

The gospel does not exist on its own in isolation.

The gospel is God’s work on behalf of his elect through the person of Jesus Christ.

We need to be reminded over and over again of the work that Christ has done on our behalf and that our very existence is found and preserved in the gospel.

Our passion burns bright for the gospel because the gospel is not just means of God saving us, but the means of God saving a people for himself.

The covenant of redemption is beautiful.

The triune God, who needs nothing, spills out his perfect love as the Father out of his love for the Son gives the Son a people and the Son out of love for the Father redeems that people and the Spirit out of love of the Father and the Son applies that redemption.

How do we share in suffering for the gospel?

By the power of God

This is counterintuitive.

We think God’s power is there to get us away from persecution.

No, the power of God enables us to share in suffering for the gospel.

God sustains us through persecution.

There is the power of God.

Shared Polycarp’s prayer at his martyrdom.

He suffered by the power of God.

You can only do this if you have the theological reality in mind that says that there is something beyond this life that you will experience that is more significant than what you experience in this life.

Christ conquered the grave.

He brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.

God saves, God calls, God gives, God abolished death, God appointed me.

Paul is not ashamed. Why?

He knows whom he has believed, and his hope is in that guarding of God.

By the power of God, Paul believed there to be something more important than continuing to breathe.

By the power of the same God, Paul called Timothy to follow in his footsteps.

The task is not finished.

Your flesh cannot do this.

How do we do it?

Trust the God who saved you.

Cherish the gospel, not just as precepts, but because you cherish Christ.

Cherish the gospel because you love what the gospel continues to do as it glorifies God through the salvation of sinners.

Cherish the gospel, because it gives you hope beyond this life.

Cherish the gospel so that, even in the midst of persecution, you may be found faithful.