Grace OPC Sewickley PA

Sermon Book: 2 Corinthians

  • In Holiness and Godly Sincerity

    In Holiness and Godly Sincerity

    About this sermon

    Some in Corinth accused Paul of fickleness because he changed his travel plans. Paul answers that he conducted himself in holiness and godly sincerity by the grace of God, and that his word was faithful as God is faithful, for all God’s promises find their Yes in Christ. God establishes his people in Christ, anoints them, and seals them with his Spirit as a guarantee.

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    Sermon transcript

    Once again, we turn to the reading of God’s inspired and infallible word as we open our Bibles to 2nd Corinthians, chapter one, where we’ll read verses 12 through 24. Give your attention, for this is the word of God, beloved. 2nd Corinthians, chapter two, chapter one, verse 12.

    For our proud confidence is this. the testimony of our conscience that in holiness and godly sincerity, not in fleshly wisdom, but in the grace of God, we have conducted ourselves in the world and especially toward you. For we write nothing else to you than what you read and understand.

    And I hope you will understand until the end, just as you also partially did understand us, that we are your reason to be proud as you also are ours in the day of our Lord Jesus. In this confidence, I intended at first to come to you so that you might twice receive a blessing, that is to pass your way into Macedonia and again from Macedonia to come to you and by you to be helped on my journey to Judea. Therefore, I was not vacillating when I intended to do this, was I? Or what I purpose, do I purpose according to the flesh, so that with me there will be yes, yes, and no, no at the same time. But as God is faithful, our word to you is not yes and no. For the Son of God, Christ Jesus, who was preached among you by us, by me and Silvanus and Timothy, was not yes and no, but is yes in him.

    For as many as are the promises of God in him, they are yes. Therefore, also through him is our amen to the glory of God through us. Now, he who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God, who also sealed us and gave us the spirit in our hearts as a pledge. But I call God as witness to my soul that to spare you, I did not come again to Corinth. Not that we lord it over your faith, but our workers with you for your joy. For in your faith, you are standing firm.

    Thus far, the reading of God’s inspired word. Amen. Let’s pray together. Father, once again, do we ask that this word of truth, this word of divine inspiration would be a word that you would grant to our understanding. May the spirit who moved the apostle Paul to write and speak these words Now be that same spirit that illumines our hearts and minds to understand, to believe, and embrace the inspired Word of God. Guide us now in the preaching of that Word. Grant power and boldness from above. May you give clarity and conviction in that by the grace of the Spirit working in each of our hearts. We pray these things together most earnestly now in Jesus’ name. Amen.

    Not unlike his Savior, not everyone thought well of the Apostle Paul. Like Jesus, Paul was at times sorely criticized. As we set out in 2 Corinthians, we quickly find the Apostle responding to his critics. The defensive nature of his words reveals that Paul was under strong criticism from the Corinthian church itself, or at least a section of that church. They felt that he had conducted himself badly, both in the world and also in his relations with them.

    We read that in verse 12. Specifically in question were his sincerity and wisdom. Again, look closely at verse 12. And they who criticized alleged that what he had written to them was difficult to understand. We see that in verse 13. No less serious was their belief that Paul was a vacillating worldly man, ready to say yes and no, even in the same breath. We see that accusation in verse 17 being answered.

    What had Paul done to provoke this hostility in Corinth? Their complaints particularly arose from the changes that Paul had made to his plans and travel, plans that he had to come and see them first before he finally withdrew from the region in proximity to the Aegean Sea where he was in Ephesus. Originally, when the churches of Corinth and Ephesus were reasonably and relatively stable, he had written that his withdrawal plan would be for him to depart from Asia, that is Ephesus, and go to Macedonia, north of Corinth. And from Macedonia, he would go to Achaia, the Grecian peninsula. And from there, from Corinth, he would go on in his journey to Judea.

    But then Paul changes his mind. After writing 1 Corinthians, it became necessary for Paul to make an emergency, unscheduled, what he calls a painful visit to Corinth, during which he said that he would return to them before going on to Macedonia. Reference verses 15 and 16. However, instead of coming back to them immediately, he wrote them a letter. a letter that is not recorded in scripture and a letter that has been lost in history. And he wrote that letter as a way of encouragement and help. And in so doing, he reverted to his original plan, that is to go first on to Macedonia, then to Achaia, and then from Achaia to go on to Judea.

    But looking at these things from the Corinthians standpoint, Paul had made major changes to his plans. and could be seen in their eyes as a vacillating man whose behavior reflected a worldly rather than a godly wisdom. But is this fair to Paul, we ask? While there is no claim that the apostles were other than sinful, fallible human beings, there were a number of factors about Paul’s circumstances which explain and justify his behavior.

    First, it became apparent by the time he left Corinth that the problem which had occasioned his visit there was still yet unresolved. And if one visit had failed, would another visit hard on the heels of that first visit achieve anything further? Back in Ephesus, he may well have reasoned that a letter to the Corinthians and a time for them to reflect and think things over might be a better approach than to return immediately to visit among them again.

    As it happened, that last letter to the Corinthians did bring about a resolution to the problem through godly sorrow and repentance. Paul will speak of that in chapter 7, verses 5 through 16. You remember in 1 Corinthians how there had been a very blatant case of sexual immorality, and Paul addresses that, and apparently there was sorrow and repentance on the part of the Corinthians. So that was the first thing, his letter had had some good effect. But secondly, a crisis had occurred for him in Ephesus, a crisis which put his life at risk and which necessitated his speedy withdrawal from Ephesus. He refers to that in chapter 1, verse 9.

    Although Paul refrains from saying so, it may have been that the Corinthians who were the ones who were in the wrong in this matter, falsely accusing Paul, of wavering or being fickle or unpredictable. Instead of showing loving concern for Paul in his grave difficulties and dire distresses, they had written him off as unspiritual and vacillating, not to be trusted, his ministry to be questioned.

    We would do well ourselves to avoid such ill-informed and unkind opinions as shown by the Corinthians toward the Apostle Paul. Indeed, let the facts first be gathered. Let explanations be provided before firm opinions are reached about someone, particularly a minister of the gospel. Then, if something bad has occurred, let our response be tempered with the meekness and the gentleness of Christ. which Paul said in chapter 10 verse 1 was the mark of his own ministry. But what does Paul say in response to the criticisms coming against him?

    Look at verse 12. He says this, For our proud confidence, literally, our boasting is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in holiness and godly sincerity, not in fleshly wisdom, but in the grace of God, we have conducted ourselves in the world and especially towards you, Corinthians. Basically, Paul is saying that he has examined his own conscience in prospect of the day of the Lord Jesus Christ, which is approaching, verse 14, That awesome day when Christ, the Lord of glory, will expose the motives and the hidden things of men’s hearts. First Corinthians chapter four, verse five. And Paul writes here in second Corinthians that the testimony of his own conscience is that on that day he will be shown to have behaved himself both in the world at large and particularly toward the Corinthians with holiness and with godly sincerity.

    How could he have such a confidence as he reflects upon his own conscience? Elsewhere, Paul has said, let him who boasts, boast in the Lord. Is Paul boasting in himself here when he writes these things? Are he boast in having examined his conscience? Far from revealing arrogance on Paul’s part, we shall see that Paul is not boasting of himself, but he is boasting of God’s strength, even in the face of his own, Paul’s own weaknesses. He is boasting of the Lord in terms of God’s unmerited favor and grace. He is boasting of Christ’s own holiness and God, Christ’s own godly sincerity, claiming those to be his own.

    We know that in the larger context of Second Corinthians, that a group of ministers had arrived in Corinth, claiming to be apostles, persons whom Paul neither names nor identifies here in his letter, but these were persons who had actively opposed his teaching and influence among the Corinthians. These opponents of Paul appeared to have boasted of their credentials, of their experiences, to legitimize their mission. That is, they are boasting in the way the world does, and over again such worldly wisdom. Paul, instead, in this second Corinthian letter, will boast in his weakness. He will boast of his sufferings. He will boast of his afflictions, all for the cause of Christ. His defense to those who criticize him, therefore, is rooted in the faithfulness of God.

    But as God is faithful, he says, our word to you is not yes and no. Verse 18 for the son of God, Christ Jesus, who was preached among you by us, by me and Sylvanus and Timothy was not yes and no, but is yes in him. Paul is affirming then in his boasting his confidence in God. His confidence in the numerous promises of God, those promises given through the mouths of many prophets at different times and in many places and in many ways, those promises all converge like so many lines at one particular point in the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom Paul and his companions now proclaim. the Christ Jesus they preach. There is no ambiguity in Paul, no yes and no about the Son of God. It is as if God is saying, Jesus Christ, my son, is my yes to every promise. Every promise I have ever made, he fulfills everything I have ever said. From God’s side, as well as from our own, everything is focused upon Jesus Christ. Because God’s promises come true in Christ, we are able to say the Amen through Christ, and that to the glory of God, verse 20.

    Christ is the go-between, the mediator. God speaks to us in Christ, and we who have received the message speak back to God through Christ. The apostle is teaching us this, that we may approach God, that we may approach God boldly, that we may approach God by no other path and be glorified by no other means than by the Lord Jesus Christ, in whom his word is yes and amen, yes and amen without contradiction without wavering sin. It is sin that prevents us from approaching God in our own right. But we may draw near beloved.

    We may draw near how through Christ, since Christ is the fulfillment to all of God’s numerous promises. It follows that the Old Testament, where the promises are made, really makes sense only when we read with Christ in view. Christ is the end of the Old Testament, the end to which the Old Testament is pointed from beginning to end, the goal towards which scripture itself moves. To read the Old Testament then without reference to Christ is like reading a mystery novel and leaving out the last chapter.

    The Lord our God in Christ gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge, says Paul. That pledge is permanent. What Paul looks forward to, even in the day of his appearing before the seat of Christ, what Paul looks forward to is in the times when God will bring us into the physical presence of Jesus through the resurrection of all believers. Chapter four, verse 14. The faithful God who is ensuring that we will remain Christians even until then gives us gives us as he gave to Paul. In the meantime, the Holy Spirit, which is described here in verse 22 as a seal, as a guarantee of the promise, even unto the very end.

    In the end, then, Paul’s ministry is not fickle and double-minded, because God is not fickle and double-minded. No, God is faithful, and his purposes shall surely stand. God is holy and he is most certainly sincere. All of his promises are yes and amen in Christ Jesus, in Christ Jesus, whose life, death and resurrection is the surety of your salvation. This was the surety of Paul’s ministry. He believed he was a new covenant apostle, according to the working of Christ and the fullness of time. And it is in keeping with the surety of Christ’s life, death, and resurrection that our salvation is made sure that we will have no cause for shame in the day of our appearing before the judgment seat of Christ, that with clear conscience we can testify it is Christ alone who has saved us, not of ourselves, not what we have done, but what Christ has done for us by his life, his death, his resurrection. There is the surety of Paul’s ministry.

    There is the surety of your life as a Christian. What Christ has done for you. And I remind you that even today it is Christ’s table that is set before us, that is set before us as a sign and seal of that glorious hope, which is ours through him who loved us and gave himself for us even unto the cross.

    That one who loved us, though many criticized him, he did not waver. He set his mind, his heart towards Jerusalem and the cross. And he accomplished the redemption that we so desperately needed. He does not waver. All of his promises are sure. You can believe him. I do pray that you do believe him. Amen.

    Let’s pray together, shall we? Our father, we do pray that we would receive the ministry of the gospel as it is intended by the grace of the spirit to not be a wavering message, Yes and no at the same time. It is a message which is yes, according to the power of the working of the Lord Jesus Christ. May we receive that message. May we receive the messengers that whom you send unto us, Father, as those who would bear the truth before us. We ask God for wisdom and grace to receive that word, even as we pray, thanking you for the grace of the Holy Spirit who has been given to us already as a pledge, as a token and guarantee of that salvation. For the day is coming when we, too, shall appear before the judgment seat of our Savior, unashamed, For what Christ has done for us, he is our yes and our amen. We ask that you would apply these things dearly to our hearts today.

    We pray together in Jesus’ name, giving thanks. Amen. As we approach the table of the Lord, I would ask that we turn in our hymnals to number 360 this morning. 360 as we come to the Lord. Let’s stand together as we sing, please. according to the gracious Word in meek humility.

    This will I do, my dying Lord, I will remember Thee. Thy body broken for my sake, my bread from heaven shall be. Thy testamental cup I take, and thus remember thee. my body sweat and not remember thee. When to the cross I turn my eye and rest on Calvary, I shall sacrifice my life for Thee. Remember thee, and all thy pains, and all thy love to me. Where thy child, in thy kingdom come, Jesus, remember thee.

    You may be seated, please. As we approach the table of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, let us hear the words of institution of the supper as they are recorded for us by the Apostle Paul. This is 1 Corinthians 11, verses 23-34. Here are the words of God. Paul writes, For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus, in the night in which he was betrayed, took bread.

    And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, This is my body. which is for you, do this in remembrance of me. In the same way, he took also the cup after supper, saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.

    For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself, if he does not judge the body rightly. For this reason many among you are weak and sick in a number of sleep.

    But if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord so that we will not be condemned along with the world. So then, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one another. If anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, so that you will not come together for judgment. The remaining matters I will arrange when I come. I swore to be in God’s inspired Word. Amen. Now we will offer these words of instruction regarding the meaning and nature of the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. Our Lord Jesus Christ instituted the Lord’s Supper as an ordinance, an ordinance to be observed by His Church until He comes again.

    It is not a re-sacrificing of Christ, but it is a remembrance of the once-for-all sacrifice of Himself in His death for our sins. Nor is it a mere memorial to Christ’s sacrifice. It is indeed a means of grace by which God feeds us with the crucified, resurrected, and exalted Christ.

    He does so by His Holy Spirit and through faith. Thus He strengthens us in our warfare against sin and in our endeavors to serve Him in holiness. The sacrament further signifies and seals the forgiveness of our sin and of our nourishment and growth in Christ. The bread and wine represent the crucified body and the shed blood of the Savior, which He gave for His people. In this sacrament, God confirms that He is indeed faithful and true to fulfill the promises of His covenant, and He calls us to greater and deeper gratitude for our salvation. He calls us to renewed consecration and to more faithful obedience.

    The supper is also a bond and a pledge of the communion that believers have with Him and with each other as members of His mystical body, the Church. As Scripture says, for we being many are one bread and one body, for we are all partakers of that one bread. 1 Corinthians 10, verse 17.

    The supper anticipates the consummation of the ages when Christ returns to gather all the redeemed people at the glorious wedding feast of the Lamb. As we come to the Lord’s table then, we humbly resolve to deny ourselves, to crucify the sin that is within us, to resist the devil, and to follow Christ as we come to those who fear his holy name. It is my privilege and responsibility as a minister of the gospel of Christ to invite all who are right with God and with his church, and through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, to come now to his table. If you have received Christ and are resting upon him alone for salvation, as he is offered to you in the gospel, if you are a baptized and professing communicant member in good standing, in a church that professes the gospel of God’s free grace in Jesus Christ, and if you live penitently and seek to walk in godliness before the Lord, then this supper is for you, and I invite you to come in Christ’s name to eat the bread and drink the cup.

    At the same time, God’s word says, whoever shall eat the bread and drink the cup unworthily shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of that cup. For he who eats and drinks unworthily eats and drinks judgment and condemnation for himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.

    1 Corinthians 11, 27-29. If you are not trusting in Jesus Christ as your Savior, if you are not a member of a faithful Christian church, if you are not living penitently and seeking to walk in godliness before the Lord, then I must warn you in the name of Christ not to approach the holy table of the Lord Jesus Christ. I would remind you, however, that this warning is not aimed to keep the humble and the contrite from the table of the Lord, as if the table were for those only who were free from sin.

    In fact, this table is set for sinners, that God gives this supper as a means of grace. Through the elements of bread and wine, our Lord graciously gives himself and all his benefits to everyone who eats and drinks in a worthy manner, discerning the body of the Lord. It is one thing to eat and drink in a worthy manner. It is very different, however, to imagine that we are worthy to eat and to drink. We dare not come to the Lord’s table as if we were worthy and righteous in and of ourselves. We come in a worthy manner if we recognize that we are indeed unworthy sinners who need our Savior, if we are consciously discerning His body that has been given for our sins, if we hunger and thirst after righteousness after Christ, giving thanks for His grace and His grace alone, trusting alone in His merits feeding on Him by faith, renewing our covenant with Him and with His people. Let us then, in light of these things, examine our own hearts and minds to determine whether such discernment belongs to us, to the end that we may partake of the glory of God and to our growth in grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.

    Come then with joy and thankfulness to the Lord’s table. The Lord’s Supper is good medicine for poor, sick souls. Come to Jesus and find rest, restracking, and nourishment for your weak and weary soul. And I would offer this word of encouragement and exhortation. Dear congregation of the Lord Jesus, lift up your hearts from these visible elements even to heaven itself, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God the Father. from where we look for him to return and to perfect our redemption. All the promises of God are indeed yes and amen in him. Every spiritual blessing is found in him.

    With joyful hearts there may Christian love let us partake of his table, giving thanks for the love that he has shown to us in his death for us. And so we come now to the table of our Lord. Our Lord Jesus Christ, in the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had broke it, gave it to his disciples, as I, ministering in his name, give this bread unto you. And so we come to the table. Let us pray together before we partake of it. Father, we thank you for your goodness and grace. We would come from the Spirit of Christ to the table to receive of the Spirit of Christ.

    That we would grow in grace and the knowledge of our Savior, more and more desiring to be for Him and like Him, in thought, in word, and in deed. knowing that all of the promises of God find their rest and end in Jesus. May those promises be fulfilled in us, your people. As we’ve been brought to faith, shall we be brought to glory as we await the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. So let us now partake of this supper as food and drink, real food and drink for the soul that we would be built up by.

    May you take these very common elements and set them apart to a very sacred and holy use. as signs and seals of the covenant of grace, that covenant fulfilled in our Lord Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray, giving thanks. Amen. Our Lord Jesus Christ said, take me, this is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. As to the essence of the element, I read to you from 1 Corinthians chapter 10. All right. Therefore, my beloved, flee from my knowledge. I speak as to wise men. You judge what I say. Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ? Since there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.

    Amen. Take, eat, this is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me. In the same manner, our Savior also took the cup, and having given thanks that it had been done in His name, He gave it to His disciples, as I, ministering in His name, give this cup unto you, saying, This cup is a new covenant in my blood. It is not the cup of blessing which we bless, but sharing in the blood of Christ. Since there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread. Amen. Jesus said, This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. Drink ye all of it. Once again, let us pray together.

    Father, we give thanks. We give thanks to the Lord Jesus Christ. that one who is utterly sincere and true, that one who is the fulfillment of every good and perfect promise from above, that we might be filled ourselves with Christ, as the Apostle spoke of his confidence, his boast in the day of the Lord Jesus, his boast is Jesus, his boast is the one who died for him and rose again victorious, that one who appointed an apostolic ministry, that one who is now at work in the Church, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, who has been given to each of us also to will and to do of your good pleasure, dear God. We thank you, and we’re thankful for the sign and seal of the supper that points us to that perfect redemption which we have in Christ, and the surety of that redemption even unto eternal life, that we should have no cause for fear, perfect love, pass out fear. May we call upon Christ today. Fill us with His Spirit. This we do ask in Jesus’ name. Amen. And now, as is our custom, beloved, we receive our customary deacon’s offering for the relief and health of the needy. We ask that you come forward to receive that offering.

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  • Forgiven in the Sight of Christ

    Forgiven in the Sight of Christ

    About this sermon

    Paul writes to the church at Corinth about a man whose sin was widely known and who had been disciplined. Now that he has repented, the church must forgive and comfort him so he is not overwhelmed by sorrow, and reaffirm their love for him. Forgiveness displays God’s mercy, mirrors what Christ has done, and restores the sinner. Every believer could have been that man. Forgiveness also keeps Satan from outwitting the church, for his schemes aim to divide and destroy.

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    Sermon transcript

    Our selection of scripture this evening comes from Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians. A church plant that Paul was intimately involved in. A plant of a church in an area very similar to ours at a crossroads of water. I don’t know if you know anything about Corinth, but at Corinth, there is a canal today that’s cut through the rock.

    There’s no locks there. But back in ancient times, they created a roadway that went up the one side of the Isthmus and down the other where they used to drag the ships from the one side from the, I think it’s the Adriatic Sea to the Aegean Sea or vice versa. And so this was a place of commerce. This was a place of Greek culture. This was a place where people from all different parts of the world mingled.

    This was a place in which Paul planted a small church. And of course, in a place like that, which might be a place like Pittsburgh, there, of course, are adverse forces with them. And one of the most adverse forces that you can have in a church is if somebody’s sin is widely known. It’s, in some people’s eyes, a horrific sin.

    And Paul wants to write to this church about this man or this person. and he wants to talk about forgiveness. And so with that in the background, let’s read what he has to say in this message, which is entitled, Forgiven in the Sight or the Eyes of Christ.

    Verse five of 2 Corinthians chapter two, You know, they teach you at seminary, wait until you hear all the pages, stop flipping. So I used to just dive right into it, but I did forget to tell you the exact verse, didn’t I? Yes. I’m older in some ways, wiser, but in that way, I still need to remember what my professors told me. Listen to the word of God now.

    Now, if anyone has caused pain, he has caused it not to me, but in some measure, not to put it too severely, to all of you. You see, before I even go on, the sin of one affects everybody else. That’s exactly what he’s saying. For such a one, this punishment by the majority is enough. So you should rather turn to forgive and comfort him, or he may be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. So I beg you to reaffirm your love for him, for this is why I wrote that I might test you and know whether you are obedient in everything.

    Anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive. Indeed, what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ, so that we would not be outwitted by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his designs. So far the reading of God’s word. Indeed, what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, it has been for your sake in the presence or the sight or the eyes of Christ. Have you ever heard of Good Riddance Day? Somebody came up with a day that we should celebrate in New York City that came up with this called Good Riddance Day.

    And the organizers of this event encouraged people to write their grievances down and then throw the list of their grievances into shredders, symbolizing the act of letting go of painful memories, bad experiences, foolish mistakes, bad relationships, this is what they say, dumb choices, long-held grudges that had been gunking up their insides. This is why they wanted to have a good Rinsday. Participants could use a sledgehammer in case the shredder didn’t provide enough emotional release. One blogger clearly loves the idea. I think this is becoming one of my favorite holidays. Today’s the chance to say good riddance to something and I’m making quite a list. Now there’s something irresistible about this idea, isn’t there?

    Sometimes we need to say good riddance to the pain and the hurt of the past. And to do that, we’re going to have to find some courage, aren’t we, to let go of that kind of anger, to say farewell to our bitterness, and to cast off our malice towards those who have hurt us very deeply.

    We must learn to forgive. And until we do that, We can never go forward. I like that. We must learn to forgive. We’ll always be learning to forgive. As long as we live in the past, we will be chained to the past. And the people who hurt us deeply will win a double victory once when they have hurt us for the first time and twice when we refuse to let go and to move on.

    Now I made a survey of the congregations that I have served, informally I would add, over the years. Merely asking people what scriptures needed the most attention or what topic or biblical subject constantly kept cropping up. And when I surveyed some people recently, only one topic was repeated. And that topic ended up receiving the most votes. And here it is, drum roll please.

    It was how to handle anger and bitterness. Or how can we love one another as a church when there is so much baggage? Or bitterness? Or anger? I remember being flabbergasted at the results because we’re all supposed to be Christians, aren’t we? That’s the mark of a Christian, to forgive. And so I asked one of my pastor friends, this is while I was back in Vermont, why that topic came in number one just about all the time. And with characteristic wisdom, he replied, I guess it’s because our people have a lot of anger and bitterness. It almost felt like saying, duh.

    We all struggle, don’t we, with broken relationships. People hurt us. People have painful words for us. Deceitful actions, they betray us. Friends turn against us. Unkind words are said about us or about our loved ones. Now, in this passage, we have someone who has been called by commentators, the great offender. He is within their church. We don’t know exactly who the man is or exactly what he did, but it must have been bad. Following things seem to be true about us as human beings. We always need forgiveness and we always have someone we need to forgive.

    Historically, Bible commentators have connected this passage with the man Paul mentioned in 1 Corinthians chapter 5, who was sleeping with his father’s wife. It’s quite interesting. I picked this apart of your confessional this evening, but it seems to have worked out, didn’t it? Paul instructs them to come together as a congregation and put that man out of the church in 1 Corinthians 5, having been cut off from the Christian fellowship, so that he might eventually come to repentance. Then if that man’s in view here in 2 Corinthians 2, then the excommunication clearly worked, because the man repented and wanted back in the church, but the congregation refused to take him back. And that may well be this background here.

    And so may I ask you a question, which is harder, to judge sin or to forgive sin? Which is harder? To take a stand against sinful behavior or to believe a man has truly changed his ways? And it seems to me that both are equally hard in our day and age, but for different reasons. Sometimes people equate Christians and their forgiveness as leniency.

    But that’s not one of the true marks of the church, is it? In the Belgian Confession, there are three marks of the true church. One, true preaching of the word. Two, pure administration of the sacraments as far as we can do that. And I believe we do that. Both of those things are the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. And number three is discipline. Administering church discipline. In other words, we take that part of discipling seriously.

    Someone’s going down the wrong road. We say you’re going down the wrong road and you need to get back on the road. or we’re going to have to help you with that. And the way we help people with it is we bar them from the Lord’s table. And eventually if they refuse, we excommunicate them from the church.

    And excommunication is not bad. It just means You can’t live in the sheep pen anymore with the shepherd and his sheep. You have to live outside the fence where the wolves are for a little bit. You can come back in on Sunday and listen to the gospel, but we’re going to treat you as if you have no faith at all. That’s what excommunication is. And that’s what happened in this case. which is harder to judge sin or to forgive it. I think both are equally as hard because both require courage, both require wisdom and love.

    And we need the Holy Spirit to show us the way forward. We are never, and let me repeat this, never more like Jesus Christ than when we forgive those who have sinned against us. I’ll repeat it. We are never more like Christ than when we forgive those who have sinned against us. And so as we survey this passage this evening, let’s note some benefits of forgiveness. Number one, forgiveness displays God’s mercy.

    Proverbs 27 reminds us that wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses. Probably better translated like this, wounds from a sincere friend are better than many kisses from an enemy. And what does that mean? You see, when we discipline those who we love, we may be perceived as an enemy and not as a friend. Sort of like parents who say, this hurts me more than it hurts you. Boy, did my mother like to say that, as she gave my father the ability to give me a swat.

    When my parents were disciplining me, I never really believed that. Mostly because I could sometimes be very mischievous and sometimes downright disobedient. And the punishment never seemed to bother them as much as it hurt me. But of course, I was not an objective observer. You think it’s funny, but at the time I didn’t.

    Here we come to a tricky issue, one for which there are no absolute answers. How do you know when the punishment is enough? I say it’s tricky because all parents understand that all children are different. And what works for one may not work for another. I’ve heard parents say about certain children, usually boys, nothing we did seem to bother him. and of other children, usually girls, all I had to do was look at her and her heart was broken.

    So in dealing with these matters, we need courage and tact and grace and wisdom. Paul wants the Corinthians to know that what they had done was right, but now the time has come to forgive and to receive this man back into the fellowship of the church. And when we do this, forgiveness displays the mercy of God. Consider David’s words in Psalm 103, which we read this evening as our call to worship. The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love, and he will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever. Sometimes we mistakenly think that if we forgive, we’re going soft on sin.

    But if God treated us the way we sometimes treat others, we would never be forgiven at all. Have you ever known anybody who just loved to argue? I think we all know people who want to keep a quarrel going just because they’re angry. Maybe not even at us. But God is not like that. He’s willing to end the quarrel right now and welcome us back home. Sometimes the real problem is we want to keep fighting.

    We love that fight more than we love the forgiveness of Christ. Truth be told, we think we’re better than the guy who made all those stupid choices. But let me repeat this once again, we are never more like Christ than when we forgive those who have sinned against us. So forgiveness displays God’s mercy. In other words, we don’t get what we deserved. Number two, forgiveness restores the sinner.

    Have you ever thought about the prodigal son in that that whole story that Jesus tells about that. Maybe if you’re like me, you identify yourself with the son who asked for his inheritance and then blew it all. He was just glad to come back to his father’s house. Have you ever identified yourself with the other brother? He’s doing it for the same reason. He says to his father, well, you never killed a calf for me. He’s waiting around as he does his work for his father to die too. The other son just made his father dead by taking his inheritance before he died.

    But we’re like the older brother in the story of the prodigal son. We’re no better than the prodigal son in that we’re all waiting. We’re all waiting for us to get our just due from the father because of the work that we have done. We think we’re better than everybody else. But deep down, the sins of others really disgust us to the point that we really don’t want them to repent. Forgiveness seems too cheap. It seems too quick. It seems too easy. After all, we’re the ones who played by the rules.

    We didn’t ask for our inheritance early. We didn’t waste it all in a far country. And we’re certainly not ending up eating with the pigs. We’re not the ones who got into a bad marriage. Our kids never got hooked on drugs. We built our life around the church. We are good Bible-believing Christians who go to church, have a quiet time in our home, give a tithe, go on mission trips, and we pray every day. We’re not like those other people.

    If you ask us, we’re all in favor of forgiveness on some theoretical level. But when it comes to someone we know and thought we could trust, someone who let us down or hurt us deeply, we’re not so quick to forgive. I’ve heard this so many times. I’ve even said it myself. I don’t forgive that easily. Well, listen to this theological truth. You can’t forgive at all unless you have Christ in your heart. Why would we want them back in our church?

    Look at all the trouble they’ve caused. How little we understand the grace of God. How little we understand ourselves. We read the story of the prodigal son, we have to ask who is worse off, the son who left or returned? Or the son who never left but would not forgive his brother? In one sense, they are both in a world of hurt or trouble if they don’t love the father for who he is instead of coveting his stuff, which is what they did.

    When we see someone being punished for their sin, we are to remember that we, too, are great sinners. And we should speak to ourselves this way. This is the way I was taught when I first became a sinner. when I first became a Christian because I was such a great sinner. I was born a sinner.

    There but for the grace of God go I. I heard that so many times in Alcoholics Anonymous while I was trying to get better from that. When I saw someone in the gutter down in the bowels of Honolulu at the River of Life mission, waiting to come in to get some food or to get some clean clothes or to take a shower. That’s what I did when I first became a Christian with Pastor Pete, a Presbyterian minister in Hawaii. As he and my wife said, Tom, you need to go down there. And I did. And I looked and I saw. And I said, there but for the grace of God, go I. I am that man in that congregation in Corinth. In a thousand ways I am that man.

    I have murdered in my heart a host of men and women. I have stolen their names and reputations and the things that I have thought and said about them. And what I have done against men and women, I have done still more and more worse things against God. And if I never actually committed murder or theft, well, I know in my heart well enough that it has more to do with the circumstances of my life that I didn’t do that than it has to do with any virtue that’s in me. with a different upbringing, with a different set of temptations, what would I have done and what would I have not done?

    If there is no hope for forgiveness for the worst of sinners, then there’s no hope for any of us. True forgiveness restores the sinner. Look how Paul puts it in verses seven and eight. Now instead you ought to forgive and comfort him so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. I urge you therefore to reaffirm your love for him. By the way, notice an important fact. He doesn’t give you the name of the person. He doesn’t specify the sin. I think that’s a crucial point.

    Love doesn’t smear anyone. Love doesn’t humiliate others. Or as Paul says, love covers over a multitude of sins. I’m reminded of a line from a song I used to sing in church a long time ago when I was a little boy. They’ll know we are Christians by our love. They will know we are Christians by our love. And that says to me, we will guard each man’s dignity and save each man’s pride.

    And that’s exactly what Paul is doing here. Forgiveness restores sinners like you and like me. And forgiveness demonstrates obedience. Look how he puts it in verse 10. The reason I wrote you was to see if you would stand the test and be obedient and everything. Again, this has two sides. Will you be obedient in exercising discipline? And will you be obedient in offering forgiveness? In this case, forgiveness proves the genuineness of our Christian faith. Do you love enough to forgive when discipline has led to repentance?

    Now I want you to understand that I know what repentance is all about. Repentance is about a journey. Repentance is about a period of time. Repentance is about a demonstration in the person’s life that their heart has changed. We can grant forgiveness today, but repentance we only see as their lives have changed. That’s why this is important. After the demonstration of a changed life comes to us, then it’s time to restore. Then it’s time to be obedient, not only to discipline and disciple in this way that we’ve been talking about, but also to forgive. You’re never as much of a Christian as when you forgive somebody else.

    There comes a point when we have to let go of the pain and anguish and reach out with the love of God to say, you are forgiven in Jesus name. If God has forgiven me for my many sins, how can I not forgive you? And that’s because forgiveness reflects the character of Christ. Five times in verse 10, Paul uses the word forgive or forgiven. If you forgive anyone, I also forgive him. For what I have forgiven, if there was anything to forgive, I have forgiven in the sight of Christ for your sake. Forgive, forgive, forgive, forgive, forgive. The man needs forgiveness. You need to forgive. And Paul says, I’m happy to forgive along with you.

    All of us stand desperately in the need of this grace that God offers us. It’s a gift we give to those who do not deserve it. Because it’s a gift given to those who don’t deserve it either, meaning us. We do not forgive because of anything the person has done and not because of their repentance that it has earned forgiveness.

    We forgive because we forgive in Christ. I have forgiven in the sight or in the presence of Christ. You need to remember that. If you don’t remember anything else, Paul says, I have forgiven in the sight in the presence, in the eyes of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We forgive because we have been forgiven. We release others because Christ has released us from our sins. Love covers their sins because Christ’s love covered over all of our sins.

    Forgiveness always flows this way from Christ to us and then to others. They will know We are Christians by our love. You cannot understand God’s love unless you go to the cross. You cannot understand the cross unless you see it as God’s love towards you. Man’s murder of the Lord Jesus Christ became God’s sacrifice. A terrible crime paid an impossible debt.

    Listen to what Paul says to another church plan. And do not grieve the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you all along with malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.

    I love this verse and this hymn. See from his head, his hands, his feet, sorrow and love flow mingled down. Did e’er such love or sorrow meet or thorns compose so rich a crown? If you want to know what love is like, go to Golgotha and fix your eyes on the man hanging from the cross. Study what he did and you will know true love. and then go and do for others what God has done for you. And finally, this evening, let me say forgiveness stops Satan in his tracks. We forgive in order that Satan might not outwit us, for we are not unaware of his schemes.

    And the word scheme speaks of a military strategy. I’m a military man at heart. I understand what this means. Satan has plans on your life. is the idea of an enemy force of commandos that are under cover of darkness and they slip behind the enemy lines.

    They set up camp far in the rear. In other words, they’re in the church. And because we are sleeping, we never saw them coming. We didn’t see the scheme or the plan that was there. And that’s exactly what has happened to many Christians. We get angry without a cause. We are too quick to criticize. We avoid talking to certain people. We nurse a victim mentality. We slander others who have hurt us. We rip into innocent people. We say unkind things and then try to laugh it off.

    Oh, just kidding. I feel like saying, no, you’re not. And you shouldn’t be talking like that. We refuse to meet with certain people. We think about those people day and night. We are consumed by bitterness. We know something is wrong, but we can’t put the finger on it. And the finger is on the fact that we won’t forgive.

    I’ve heard this so many times. I can’t forget. I can’t forget. I just can’t forget. Well, can’t is an ability word. We all know that. Of course you can’t. Only God can forgive. Only God has the ability to forgive sin. Your problem is you won’t. That’s a desire word. That’s a will word. My will won’t forget. Of course it won’t.

    Unless you have Christ you don’t have the ability to truly forgive and you won’t truly forgive unless your heart is changed. Even though this man had evidently sinned against Paul even, he seeks no vengeance. He calls no names. He doesn’t say, I’m so glad we are rid of that jerk. Instead he says, I forgive him as you forgive him in order that Satan might not get a foothold in our church.

    Now here is true Christian maturity at work. This is exactly right. And I can say that because it’s God’s word. Forgiveness is God’s medicine for a broken heart. It heals the deepest wounds, it repairs what the devil has destroyed, and it opens the door to even greater blessings. Oh, that we might become great forgivers, or maybe even quicker forgivers. that the love of Christ might fill our hearts so that we, as we have been forgiven, might freely forgive those who have sinned against us.

    And you say, I can’t do that. You don’t know what they did to me. Well, if God treated you like that, you’d be in hell already. I began this message by talking about the idea of good riddance. And the folks that conceive this idea mean well, but the best they can offer is self-improvement by shredding their grievances. And might I leave you with this this evening, that Christian faith goes further and deeper than anything you can imagine, because it bases everything on what Christ has done for you and me.

    Having been forgiven so much at so great a cost, can we not forgive those who have sinned against us. Whatever forgiveness costs, and sometimes it costs you a great deal, it can never cost us what it cost Jesus when he hung on the cross. The Son of God dying for the sins of a rebel people, crying out, Father, forgive them. They don’t know what they’re doing.

    We should dedicate our lives to saying farewell to anger, bitterness, blaming, finger pointing, self-justification in a critical spirit, and ask God to grant us fresh infusion of his grace in all our relationships. So we might be like Jesus now, this week, in the days to come, full of grace and truth, abounding in mercy, and quick to forgive. Shall we pray? Oh Lord Jesus, set us free from the corrosive anger that is sometimes harbored in our hearts. That your love might flow from us to a hurting world. Teach us anew. And with the power that only you can give through your Holy Spirit, to forgive as we have been forgiven. In Jesus’ name, for his sake, we pray all these things, amen. Our final hymn this evening, in gratitude for the word that has been given to us, comes from number 580. And would you stand to sing? It is well with my soul.

    The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

  • What Marks a True Ministry

    What Marks a True Ministry

    This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Considering the Church” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, May 29, 1994.

    About this sermon

    The Word of God is the only standard for judging a ministry, and Micah, Jesus, and Paul each contended with false prophets who offered something easier. The true gospel does not flatter its hearers. In every case, the humility of the cross marks genuine ministry.

    More sermons from 2 Corinthians · Browse all sermons

    Sermon transcript

    This morning we are reading from Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians. We are at chapter 4, and we are beginning at verse 1. This is 2 Corinthians chapter 4, beginning at verse 1. Give your attention to the word of God. Therefore, seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not. but have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness or handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.

    But if our gospel is hid, it is hid to them that are lost, in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not. lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves as your bond slaves for Jesus’ sake. For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. We have this treasure in earthen vessels. that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us.

    We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed. We are perplexed, but not in despair, persecuted, but not forsaken, cast down, but not destroyed, always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. So then, death worketh in us, but life in you.

    We, having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore I have spoken. We also believe and therefore speak, knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you.

    For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might, through the thanksgiving of many, be redounded to the glory of God. For which cause we think not, that though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”

    Father, with hearts that are filled with gratitude, we acknowledge that we are sinners saved by grace. We look to the cross of our Savior, and we delight once more to think about what was necessary in bringing us to salvation. and the magnificence of grace exhibited in the cross of our Lord. Help us, our Father, that we, your people, might be those that demonstrate in every way possible the words of our mouth, the deeds of our hands, the fact that we have been bought with a price, that we are not our own. that Jesus Christ has given his life that our sins might be forgiven, in order that we might be redeemed and brought to glory. We pray that we, in hearing your word and meditating upon it, can be strengthened in our grit with respect to the things of the gospel which we love. We pray these things in Jesus’ name. Amen.

    How can we determine a valid ministry? We have been considering the Church, and we have come to that point in our consideration of the Church. to those matters that pertain to the gospel ministry, the ministry of the Word. We have been looking at Paul’s reflection on these matters in his second letter to the Corinthians. We asked ourselves this morning, how can we determine a valid ministry?

    How do we recognize a minister genuinely called by God? In the book of Deuteronomy, God, through his servant Moses, set out some criteria for determining a genuine prophet. I think that we all recognize that there are differences between prophets so identified in the Word of God, and those who have taken up the ordinary ministry of the Word and carry on that ministry in the life of the Church. Nevertheless, consideration of the criteria given us by God through Moses in Deuteronomy may prove helpful to us in understanding better What constitutes a valid ministry? How we might recognize a minister genuinely called by God. Now, one passage that I have in mind is that in Deuteronomy chapter 13, verses 1 through 5. This is Deuteronomy chapter 13, verses 1 through 5.

    And here, God, through Moses, addresses the question of the false prophet. Of course, setting in contrast, then, one who would be a true prophet of the Lord. But the Lord here is setting before us this question of the false prophet, and the quandary and confusion generated when such an individual carries in so many ways what seem to be the proper criteria. You will know how that chapter begins if you have it open in front of you. This one, The False Prophet, lays claim to knowledge concerning the mysteries, and in keeping with the title he claims, namely that he is a prophet, He tells forth these mysteries and their significance. That’s, in fact, what the word prophet means. It means to tell forth. You will note also, in this thirteenth chapter of Deuteronomy, that this individual is described as a dreamer of dreams. That is, he is a visionary.

    We are not strangers to those who claim to be visionaries. They see things that others don’t. They know the meanings of those things that appear in their consciousness when they are asleep or otherwise. Possibly these individuals were given to swoons—swoons of spiritual excitement, such spiritual excitement that could be confused, easily confused, with a piety, an intensity, a zeal, that would characterize even those who are truly called God.

    So you see, the individual set in front of you is no ordinary figure. This person is extraordinary to be sure. We are even told that this individual, this false prophet, is capable of signs and wonders. Having such apparent miraculous ability, that his identity as a messenger of God seems to be irrefutably confirmed. He has the power of signs and wonders. Not only does this individual tell forth the mysteries, but he also particularly, it seems, with respect to these signs and wonders, foretells. He not only tells forth, but he foretells his finds and wonders, relating them to the immediate future as events that he has prophesied come to pass.

    Such individuals as these are more than a curiosity among the people of God. These have the power, the capability, of actually attracting large crowds to themselves, large followings, and they prove to be a genuine threat to the people of God in their religious integrity. One thing to which the Lord calls attention in this passage, in order that his people may be sufficiently warned, despite the claims of the false prophet to endowment by way of divine sources, despite the claims to office that the individual may boast of despite the dreams, the signs, the wonders, despite the prophecies that actually have come true. The one thing which in this text the Lord calls attention to, in order that his people may be sufficiently warned, is the spiritual compromise that is discerned in these individuals.

    If this man, the false prophet, serves other gods and suggests that the people of God do the same, then you are not to listen to him. In verse 5 of that thirteenth chapter, the Lord goes even further to spell out the nature of the offense of this individual. He says that such a person has counseled rebellion against the Lord. Now, it is difficult to imagine a greater crime than counseling rebellion against the Lord.

    But in order that such a crime against God be set in even sharper relief, Moses makes it plain that those refusing to follow the false prophet be they that perceptive, must persist, must persist in giving their full attention and allegiance to the genuine Word of God as that Word comes to them from God’s true servants. All of this in this text. So now stressed in this particular passage is the importance of the Word of God as you think about the genuineness and the validity of the claims of such individuals who might rise within the people of the Lord. So important is the word of God in this context that comment on it provides introduction to the subject of the false prophet as you meet that false prophet in the thirteenth chapter.

    I have in mind the last verse of chapter twelve. You shall be careful to do. You shall not add to nor take away from it.” Now, you combine that statement at the end of chapter 12 with what you find in the fourth verse of that thirteenth chapter, which reads this way, “‘You shall follow the Lord your God and fear Him. You shall keep His commandments, listen to His voice, serve Him, and cling to Him.

    So then, in determining a valid ministry, in recognizing a minister genuinely called by God, it is a matter then of us being perceptive enough to reject those who propose religious compromise, redirection, or even betrayal. But at the same time, a matter for us of embracing not only the Lord, but those whom the Lord has given. that his word might come to us, making its claim upon us, and that exclusively.

    But this isn’t all that Deuteronomy has to say on the subject. There is a parallel text in Deuteronomy chapter 18, verses 9 through 22. This text follows the same line as the previous passage. At this time, the passage ends with the false prophet, again a subject for discussion here in Deuteronomy 18. The passage ends with that prophet spoken of as one who speaks presumptuously. against the background of God’s promise to raise up true prophets like He had in Moses—you can find that referred to in this text—or even the true prophet. A statement there that refers to the eventuality of the one great prophet coming for God’s people, namely the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. But against this backward now of God’s promise to raise up true prophets, the Lord warns Israel about the presumptuous prophet, that is, the man who speaks in God’s name without any warrant from the Lord.

    Verse 20 of that 18th chapter. But how shall the people of God be able to identify the presumptuous prophet? Verse 21. It is particularly difficult. In view is not the man who speaks explicitly in the name of other gods, as in chapter 13, although such an individual is referred to in this context, but instead in view is that man who speaks in the Lord’s name, and that exclusively, but has presumed to himself office and authority amongst God’s people. Verse 22 of that 18th chapter tells us that this man is exposed when his words fail. When his words fail.

    The people of God, they are told, need not fear such an individual. merely relating what we find in these Deuteronomy texts to the ministry of the Word, we may feel that we have the criteria we need for assessing the genuineness of a ministry. Is it religiously pure? Refusing to mix devotion to the true God with devotion to any other God or any other religious tradition. Maybe you were interested, as I was, in reading this one page of yesterday’s Post Gazette with respect to the Roman Catholic catechism just passed. You may have noticed one of the questions and answers that were set out there on the front page of the paper. In that catechism, the Roman Church declares that the plan of salvation includes all who believe in the Creator, most specifically those who are adherents to Islam.

    So we ask the question, is the ministry religiously pure? Does it refuse to mix devotion to the true God with devotion to any other God or any other religious tradition? Further? Does this ministry restrict itself to the pure and unadulterated Word of God, refusing to add to or subtract from that Word?

    Do you realize that this is your heritage as Orthodox Presbyterians? I mean, in this very century in which you live, there is a church that has taken a stand for the pure, unadulterated Word of God, refusing to add to that Word or to subtract from it. Now, this is not to suggest that the Orthodox Presbyterian Church is the only church that has done that. Indeed, the anagram OPC does not stand for the only pure church. But when the Orthodox Presbyterian Church was formed in 1936, the stand was taken by nation and others then against those liberals who were subtracting from the Word of God, who had removed large tracts from God’s Word, and that even according to their convenience. It wasn’t a year before the Church was faced with the opposite challenge, for the fundamentalists wanted to add to the Word and place upon the conscience of Christians restrictions that were nowhere definitive or advocated in the Word.

    Well, you might ask then, does the ministry restrict itself to the pure and unadulterated word of God? Does it refuse to add to or to subtract from that word? You might well pray to God that you have discernment to know when someone is adding to it or subtracting from it.

    Furthermore, does this ministry stand in the line of that true ministry of the Word that has, as it’s claimed, the fulfillment of the sure and certain promises of God? I will not hesitate at this point to suggest to you that the true ministry of the Word is properly Biblical, theological, and redemptive historical. It is beyond me. It is beyond what I can fathom that there now rises within even the Orthodox Presbyterian Church those who suggest to us that biblical theology is out of bounds, that the redemptive historical approach to Scripture is out of bounds. We are covenantal, and that in consistency with that which we have seen in the true ministry of the Word.

    It claims, you see. the fulfillment of God’s sure and certain promises in their covenantal form. Now, without a doubt, the criteria from Deuteronomy when related to the gospel ministry are very helpful to us in assessing a ministry’s validity. Still, there remains the difficulty that subsequent revelation concerns itself with such a difficulty so as to make clear the particular character of the Deuteronomy prescriptions. Let us consider, for instance, suppose you have a prophet who speaks only in the name of the Lord, who appeals exclusively to the law, to the Scriptures, and his prophecy apparently comes true, he’s standing in line with the tried-and-true ministry of the Word with respect to the sure and certain promises of God.

    But at the same time, this individual is labeled in the Word a false prophet. Suppose you have all the criteria seemingly met, and yet this individual who carries this criteria as part of his portfolio is identified as a false prophet. Can you be blamed for following him?

    This is the situation, as some have understood it, faced by the early 8th century prophet Micah. Now, we don’t have time this morning to go into all the details of Micah’s situation or his prophecy. You’re going to have to trust me a little bit here. But there were false prophets in Micah’s day, and they are a major consideration in his prophecy. But you should know that these false prophets are presented in that prophecy as devout Israelites.

    They are presented even as defenders of the traditions. They are committed to the covenant, so committed to the covenant that they are certain that God’s promise to David and the eternal character of the throne given to David will never be overturned. They extend that to Jerusalem and Jerusalem’s present circumstance. Jerusalem cannot be destroyed The city cannot be razed to the ground by the invader. The covenant is certain. So confident were these of that covenant and the promises that they had no difficulty withstanding Micah.

    Micah was in the minority. Micah had brought a message about the destruction of Jerusalem. Now, consider the predicament. When the Assyrians invaded Judah and laid siege to Jerusalem, and Jerusalem was spared, who appears to be the false prophet? Micah. He said the city was going to be destroyed. The city was spared.

    The ones that appear to be the true prophets are those who are identified in the Word as the false prophets. Is this getting confusing, or what? Micah anticipates Jesus Christ himself. For Jesus also faces those who speak only in the Lord’s name, those who are devout in their defense of the law, who claim the covenant. And even in the face of Jesus’ claims about the coming of the kingdom, the destruction of the temple, and the city of Jerusalem appear true, while Jesus appears false.

    Paul had similar problems with the enemies he faces within the Church. Those who said they had the true ministry, Paul’s ministry was false. Paul was specifically up against it in Corinth. But now, as we come to the fourth chapter of 2 Corinthians, there is set before us a wider consideration. that carries us beyond even the Deuteronomy criteria for assessing valid and genuine ministry. Note the language of Paul in the fourth chapter of 2 Corinthians. He speaks about being a bond slave to the Corinthians. Does that sound like language that false apostles have used?

    He speaks about having the treasure of his most excellent ministry in an earthen vessel, thus underscoring his weakness. He says that this surpassing greatness of the power might be of God, not from himself. Verse 7. He speaks about being afflicted, about being perplexed, about being persecuted, struck about carrying about in his body the dying of Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be seen in his body, verses 8 through 10. And he says, somewhat climatically, in verse 12, that death is at work in him, so that life might be at work in the Corinthians.

    What is it that he is specifically lacking, then? in these opponents of Paul, in these that are taking pop shots at him, trying to undermine his authority and his ministry? Is it not that which expresses itself specifically in the humility evidence in the man? But this is no ordinary humility, you see. For what Paul is endeavouring to bring to expression here is the humility that is specifically attached to the cross. And it is this, then, that is lacking in Paul’s opponent’s ministry. It is the cross. There is no room for it. There is no room for suffering. There is no room for humiliation. There isn’t even any room for repentance.

    The very cross, then, by which Paul is enabled to lead those whom he serves, is the cross of Jesus Christ coming to expression in him. And by that cross, he is enabled, then, in this ministry, to lead these people to whom he is bound, whom he loves through humiliation, through repentance, through suffering, to the eternal And do you know how Paul presses on in this chapter to consider the eternal things? Is that not how he ends in verse 18?

    Yes, to be sure, true ministry then insists upon the undiluted truth of biblical religion, no compromise. Yes, to be sure, true ministry insists upon the absolute veracity and sufficiency of the Scriptures. True ministry is crystal clear about the certainty of God’s promises, but that ministry also insists on the character generated by the Holy Spirit, whereby the very form of Jesus Christ, our Savior, is seen in him who is called to minister. The false prophet, the minister who fails with respect to his supposed calling, is the one who is either incapable of, or who rejects the cross and its humiliation and sufferings, and forgets about the eternal things. The true minister labors in order that the light of the glory of God from the face of Jesus Christ might shine upon those who are the objects of ministry.

    And that, not for a moment, but for eternity. Actually, it is nothing short of this that shines in Micah, the 8th century prophet. lending itself then to the confirmation of his ministry, though he stood alone. This fact borne out by a careful reading of his prophecy. But if the truth be told, nothing less than this, in fact, nothing less than the sufferings of Christ were coming to expression in Moses, the one who was used by God to write down Deuteronomy. as he, the meekest man in all the earth, not only chose the reproaches of Christ, so says Hebrews 11, instead of the riches of Egypt, but who, like Christ, even prefiguring Christ, bore the burdens of the people and interceded for them in such a way so as to prepare them for Jesus, their true and faithful minister. How would you then know a true minister if you saw one?

    Integrity with regard to biblical religion, no compromise. Commitment to the word without drawing back. Devotion to the sure and certain promises of your covenant God. But also a realization that a true ministry is one that is capable of leading you through humiliation, suffering, even repentance, and then to glory. True ministry has as its center the death and resurrection of Jesus, your Lord.

    Father, may it please you to grant to your church. Those truly called. Who are not only informed by the criteria laid out in Deuteronomy. But also see in Moses the pattern of one to come. Help your church with respect to true ministry, lest they be confused, as in the days of Micah.

    May your people then, as you elect did then, perceive in your servants the form of Jesus Christ. And may it be, O God, that we would evaluate all who would lay claim to office, that we would evaluate all by the cross and resurrection of our Savior. We know our Father that if there is to be valid and genuine ministry for your people, it must come in and through Him. So may it be, Lord. So may it be here in this congregation. And so may it be, Lord, for many, many, many congregations throughout the world in this present hour. We pray this in Christ’s name. Amen.

    The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

  • Preachers as Salesmen

    Preachers as Salesmen

    This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Considering the Church” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, May 15, 1994.

    About this sermon

    Preachers who corrupt the Word for effect act like salesmen, trading on Moses’ earthly, practical ministry while rejecting the faith Paul’s ministry requires. The real question is which ministry a corrupted church finds easier to sell. 2 Corinthians 2-4 sets the terms for telling the difference.

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    Sermon transcript

    I am reading once more from the 2nd chapter, beginning at the 14th verse. This is 2 Corinthians 2, verse 14. Give your attention to the Word of God. I am reading from the New American Standard. But thanks be to God, who always leads us in his triumph in Christ, and manifest through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of him in every place.

    For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life. And who is adequate for these things? We are not like many, peddling the word of God, but as from sincerity, but as from God, we speak in Christ in the sight of God. Are we beginning to commend ourselves again, or do we need as some letters of commendation to you or from you? You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all men, being manifested that you are a letter of Christ cared for by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tables of stone, but on tables of human hearts. And such confidence we have through Christ toward God, not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit, for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

    If the ministry of death in letters engraved on stones came with glory, so that the sons of Israel could not look impudently at the face of Moses because of the glory of his faith, fading as it was, how shall the ministry of the Spirit fail to be even more with glory? For if the ministry of condemnation has glory, much more does the ministry of righteousness abound in glory. For indeed, what had glory in this case has no glory on account of the glory that surpasses it. For if that which fades away was with glory, much more that which remains is in glory.

    Having therefore such a hope, we use great boldness in our speech. and are not as Moses who used to put a veil over his face that the sons of Israel might not look intently at the end of what was fading away. Their minds were hardened, for until this very day at the reading of the Old Covenant, the same veil remains unlifted because it is removed in Christ. But to this day, whenever Moses is read, the veil lies over their hearts. But whenever a man turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

    But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord the Spirit. Therefore, since we have this ministry, As we receive mercy, we do not lose heart. We have renounced the hidden things because of shame, not walking in craftiness or adulterating the word of God, but by the manifestation of truth, commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.

    We, O Lord, would be the servants of your word. And Father, truly, it is imperative that we submit to that word. It is difficult for us at times because we would go another way. But your word, O God, comes to us as life itself. May we desire the word, and may we rejoice that you have given us your word. May our heart’s desire then be like unto the heart’s desire of your people throughout the world. That in every place where you are called upon, there may be this great desire that the word have its full impact, that we all, your children, would be properly submissive to you and to what you have said. Hear us in the name of that one who was perfectly obedient, and Lord, we thank you for this one who learned obedience to the things which he suffered. We pray it in his name. Amen.

    And who is adequate for these things? But we are not like many, peddling the word of God, but as from sincerity, but as from God, we speak in Christ in the sight of God. When Paul, the apostle, asks, as he does in that 16th verse of 2 Corinthians 2, who is adequate for these things? he has in mind those who act, those who believe, those who see themselves as being nothing short of perfectly adequate. Undoubtedly, these wonderfully adequate-to-teachers instructors, apostle-wahhabis, exude an air of unfaltering confidence. They are men immaculately suited to public life and to the world of public discourse. They are men in whom there is not found a moment’s hesitation with regard to the things that they believe.

    They are unflappable. They are masters of the techniques that pertain to the world of cool communication. They are able to sculpture messages with precision with an infallible rhetorical verse. They are ingenious illustrators. They are masterful storytellers. They are dynamic. They are exciting. They are relevant. They are professional spokesmen for the principles—underscore that—for the principles, or even better, for the laws of practical religious living.

    Of these, Paul says, there are many. And of the many, some have infiltrated the church at Corinth and are affecting profoundly the life of that church. There have been many. Since religion was organized, there have been many throughout the history of Israel. There shall be many even to the close of the age, and that within the Church of Jesus Christ itself.

    These, says Paul, in the King James rendering of at seventeenth verse, these corrupt the Word of God. Or, as the New American Standard, or the New International put it, they tattle the Word of God. Paul’s thought here is deliberately direct. At the same time, it is incredibly complex. I think somehow you knew that. Otherwise, we’d have to end the sermon here. These of whom Paul speaks do, in fact, as the King James renders it, corrupt the word of God. But Paul has in mind not just the fact that they corrupt the word, but as well the manner by which they do that.

    Now, in order to communicate this, he uses the image of a retailer. He uses the image of a salesman. Now, not that the retailer or the salesman are inherently evil, or that the profession in which they engage themselves is by definition corrupt. But Paul here, in his use of this term, does mean it in a pejorative way. He has in mind the huckster. He has in mind the shyster, the flim-flammer, one who hawks his ware. The image is blatant, it is blatantly negative. Now one of the reasons why Paul uses such a blatantly negative image here is because he is convinced that these teachers are basically dishonest.

    The prophet Isaiah used the very same thought. as Paul uses here, to talk about those in Israel who were watering down their wine before sale, diluting it, both corrupting the wine but also making that wine and the sale of it all the more profitable to them at the expense of their customers. read Isaiah’s comment to this effect in his first chapter, the twenty-second verse. You may want to think, then, of the salesman, of the retailer, along a certain line. You may want to think of him along the lines of one who adulterates his product, that is, an extensive and fine piece, and then deliberately refurbishes that piece with inferior parts, and passes it off as if it has an integrity to it.

    Paul’s enemies at Corinth are doing nothing less. I remember a few years ago that GM had its problems because a few Cadillac owners opened their hoods to discover that they had Chevrolet engines. Paul’s enemies at Corinth were corrupting, diluting, adulterating the word of God. a specific enterprise in which these teachers, these would-be apostles, were engaged. He has in mind the fact that they were taking the gospel—now, they were not ignoring it—but they were taking the gospel, and they were mixing with that gospel that which was inferior, and that they were doing this for their own advantage, to the enhancement of their own reputations, the polishing of their own images, and the fattening of their own glory. Paul remarks later about these people in his fifth chapter of this very epistle, the twelfth verse, these people have their boast in appearance.

    There’s a whole entire religious world built around appearance. many of us here this morning have not been strangers to that world. But it wasn’t that these teachers who had come in hadn’t confused the Corinthians. For you see, These teachers came in with all of their claims. As we read through the entirety of this epistle, we find that their claims included spiritual experiences, even of a charismatic type.

    Have you ever gotten into an argument with someone who claimed experience as his authority? The argument ends. I know it’s true, it happened to me. How can we argue? So these teachers came in with their claim to spiritual experience. They also came in with their claim of a wide following. a claim that seemed to put them in a better position even than the Apostle Paul. They have the crowds. Paul, where are the crowds in connection with you? They made their claims with regard to eloquence. They were able to attract the crowds. They were even able to hold the crowds. What about you, Paul? Your appearance and your speech are contemptible.

    But even beyond these claims, there is one now upon which the Apostle Paul specifically focuses, and you’ve heard his dealings with that claim as you move through the third chapter of this epistle. That claim particularly has in view the Old Testament figure, Moses. understand the position of the Corinthians in this respect. Surely they had felt hesitant to criticize these teachers since these teachers had claimed Moses as their confidant. Moses is on our side. We speak for Moses. If you look at Moses, you will find in him one who sides with us.

    But it is precisely at this point that Paul makes his accusation against these teachers. These teachers’ mixture of the gospel and Moses, in Paul’s estimation, has cheapened the gospel. Now, not that Paul, in taking on Moses here in 2 Corinthians 3, means to encourage the the Corinthians to think less of Moses than they ought, much less than the word of God would want. After all, Paul’s accusation is that these teachers are adulterating the word of God, the very word that includes the story and testimony of Moses himself. So no, Paul is not encouraging these Christians at Corinth or Christians anywhere to think less of Moses than they ought. But that being the case, how is it possible for these teachers who have come in claiming Moses to cheapen the gospel by an appeal to Moses?

    Does not God speak with one voice? Is that not obvious? Is it not obvious to these teachers? How can they claim Moses, then, as one that supports them over against the Apostle. What, then, justifies the Apostle Paul to speak so bluntly, so directly, about these teachers when they lay claim to and appeal to such a formidable figure as Moses? The reason why Paul is able to do this is because these men neither understand Moses nor the revelation that concerns him.

    Now I want to say this to you, and as I do, I say it in hopes that you will understand me. There is that dimension to the figure Moses, that dimension to his revelation, and this, by the design of God, that places the man and the revelation around him in the confines of this creation and within this world. You see, there is a dimension to Moses and the revelation associated with him that remains earthbound. And as all things bound to this world are temporary, So Moses and his revelation, and this by God’s design, have proved temporary also. There is that dimension that we must not overlook.

    But you see, it is specifically and especially the earthiness and the temporality of the Mosaic revelation of Moses himself that appeals to these teachers that have come into chorus, who now oppose the Apostles. They are saying over against the Apostles, here is religion’s true practicality. Here, religion finds its real usefulness, its relevance. For our theology, our doctrine, to be genuinely practical, it must hold on to the earth. It cannot, it must not let it go. Such a practical theology must confess that, first of all, our place is here in this world. We must start from ourselves. We must start from our circumstance, from our environment.

    Paul’s gospel, on the other hand, is much too esoteric. It’s much too ethereal. It is much too concerned with language about exaltation, language about heaven, language about the Christ of glory. Give us a more accessible Christ. That’s what we want. One closely bound to Moses. One closely bound to the earth. One closely bound to the laws of practical religion. We all need something concrete, do we not? Something that provides us with easy steps for the scheme of practical living.

    We need the promise of advance and achievement, those things that we can look at, those things that confirm us in our existence, those things that tell us that we are alive and that we matter. Without such confirmations, without such visible, tangible evidence, we are left psychologically, religiously, spiritually crippled. In fact, apart from our reading of the Word of God, we, teaming the Gospel now with Moses, We mixing Christ with Moses, we mixing heaven with earth, mixing the sublime with the practical, the invisible with the visible. Yet, apart from our reading of the Word of God, we doing all these things, apart from our reading of the Word of God in this fashion, all reasonableness and meaning evaporates from our lives, and we have no reason to exist. You either give us an earthy religion, or we want no religion at all.

    Paul, being no coward, goes after his opponent’s supposed greatest strength. You wish to debate this issue at the level of Moses? You wish to debate this whole matter at the level of appearances? Well, then let’s deal with appearances. Let’s deal with Moses and his appearance at the time that he was given the law in which you pride yourself, at the time that he came down from Sinai, when he came out from meeting directly with the Lord.

    We are told that his face was radiant, his appearance was even much better than any of his appearance in the past. But in the end, neither that glory which Moses had in that circumstance nor his appearance continued. They faded as all things in this earth fade, even be they something as remarkable as Moses’ shining face.

    But note also that this temporary glory and the alterations that came upon Moses in that circumstance recorded for us in Exodus 34 had attached to them an administration, a covenant, over which Moses presided. That administration, that covenant, was temporary and provisional. That administration and that covenant, despite the fact that they had come from God at Sinai, were earthy. There is that sense, then, in which the Apostle can speak, as he does in the third chapter, of that covenant being devoid of the Spirit, being devoid of life, and as such remaining but a mere letter, wholly lacking in true glory, a testament to condemnation and to death.

    But so it is with any religious approach that dotes upon appearances, upon the things of this world. If that is your aspiration, if that is why you are here this morning, because of the comforts that religion affords you in this world, let me tell you, this world is going to end.

    My gospel, says Paul, does not belong to this order of religion, the order over which these false teachers preside. Those who benefit from my message and my ministry are not looking at one whose faith is veiled. And thus I stand in a better position than those who conform. Those who benefit from my message and ministry are not looking at one whose face is veiled, as the Israelites did when looking at Moses. Instead, by way of faith in my message and my ministry, those to whom I minister are beckoned to behold my unveiled face, to the end that they may perceive in me the radiance of that eternal glory that shines forth through Christ.

    And it is only the art of faith that can perceive that. Let those who are blessed in appearance make their claims of Moses. their boast, their claim mangles Moses and fails to reckon him and his ministry appropriately. Moses’ ministry was a ministry of fading glory, it was temporary.

    For ours is of permanent glory and belongs to eternity and to heaven. Not that we congratulate ourselves for our more excellent ministry. Rather, we are clear that we have this permanence only through and in Jesus Christ. Our adequacy is from God. We have this permanence in and through Jesus Christ. who has himself been transformed from a world of fainting glory to that of eternal glory by the resurrection from the dead. We who serve the glory of the Lord as found in Jesus Christ know that we do not go in and out from the presence of the Lord now, as Moses did. But abiding in Christ we perpetually, we constantly speak in the sight of God.

    And that from sincerity, and that from God himself, we live to bear and to speak this glorious truth. Here’s the proper light, then, on the conclusion of that seventeenth verse in 2 Corinthians 2. We who share Paul’s ministry stand in the eternal heavenly Christ before the face of God, that we from sincerity from God himself might speak to you. But lest we miss the point, Paul’s words at the conclusion of this seventeenth verse are strong. They are deliberately direct.

    These who would stand opposite to him in the gospel have not merely disagreed on a matter of passing importance, Their exaltation of appearance, their boast in Moses, their boast in the law, their focus upon the earth, and their claim upon practical usefulness, according to the Apostle, translates into the corruption of the Word of God that literally transforms them into unscrupulous peddlers. But even further, it leaves them exposed to the charge of utter insincerity, since their objective is the enhancement of their own worldly reputations, and not the eternal good of the people they claim to serve. These, then, are not from God. Since they have no true regard for heaven, They have no true regard for eternity. They have no true regard for the gospel that cannot then be mixed with any alien element. They neither speak in Christ nor in the sight of God.

    But while these are being transformed, even from shame to shame, as agents of an earthly religion, we all, in keeping with the 18th verse of that third chapter, we who receive the true ministry are being transformed even more perfectly into the image of the glory of the Lord, just as the Lord Jesus Christ himself was transformed when he entered the eternal world. of the Spirit.

    Our messages have been entitled, Considering the Church, and we have come to that point in our messages where we are considering the ministry of the Word in the Church. I hope that for you, as you reflect on the ministry now and in the future. You will keep well in view the testimony of the Apostle as he gives it to you here in 2 Corinthians chapter 2 and chapter 3. marvel at the boldness of the apostle, we marvel at his directness, we would be instructed by that boldness that as strongly as he feels with respect to the integrity of the gospel, we might also feel the very same thing. As he is determined with his life to place himself at the disposal of that gospel, we are asking Lord that we might do the same. Lord in light of the theme of this text, we would ask for your church, men of integrity, who would hold to the gospel, not mixing it with anything, lest it be corrupted, lest it be adulterated.

    We pray, our Father, that as we hold fast to this wonderful gospel, it would please you to work in us according to your word, that we, pastor and people alike, would be transformed into the image of the glory of the Lord, even from glory to glory, just as Christ himself was transformed through resurrection from the dead. These things we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

    The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

  • Boasting Only in the Lord

    Boasting Only in the Lord

    This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Considering the Church” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, May 8, 1994.

    About this sermon

    Paul’s defense of his own ministry in 2 Corinthians runs, oddly, through boasting, but a boasting that uses Moses as its foil rather than Paul’s own credentials. 2 Corinthians 10:17 supplies the real rule: boasting belongs to the Lord alone. What looks like self-defense is really another way of pointing away from himself.

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    Sermon transcript

    We are reading today from 2 Corinthians 2, beginning at verse 14. Give your attention to the reading of God’s word. I am reading from the New American Standard Version. But thanks be to God who always leads us in His triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place.

    For we are a fragrance of Christ the God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life. And who is adequate for these things? We are not like many, peddling the word of God, but as from sincerity, but as from God, we speak in Christ in the sight of God. Are we beginning to commend ourselves again, or do we need some letters of commendation to you or from you? You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all men, being manifested that you are a letter of Christ, cared for by us, written not with ink, but with the spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of human hearts. And such confidence we have through Christ toward God.

    Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God. who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

    But if the ministry of death in letters graven on stones came with glory, so that the sons of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses because of the glory of his face fading as it was, how shall the ministry of the Spirit fail to be even more with glory? For if the ministry of condemnation has glory, much more does the ministry of righteousness abound in glory. For indeed, what had glory, in this case, has no glory on account of the glory that surpasses it. For if that which fades away was with glory, much more that which remains is in glory.

    Having therefore such a hope, we use great boldness in our speech, and are not as Moses, who used to put a veil over his face, that the sons of Israel might not look intently at the end of what was fading away. But their minds were hardened, for until this very day, at the reading of the Old Covenant, the same veil remains unlifted, because it is removed in Christ. But to this day, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart. But whenever a man turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.

    Now, the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord the Spirit. Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we do not lose heart.

    We have renounced the hidden things because of shame, not walking in craftiness or adulterating the word of God, but by the manifestation of truth, commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. Pray with me. How, O God, will we calculate our debt to you? For we cannot merit right standing with you, nor can we merit even the least of your gifts to us.

    Your word comes to us, O Lord, and what a magnificent gift it is, for it brings with it life in the spirit, and we are committed to your word. But we are also grateful, O God, to those who have taught us the word, and we thank you for those families in which your word is revered, and for those parents who have been diligent in teaching these things from your word to their children. O Father, we who have benefited, how we glory before you in this marvelous mercy to us. So then Lord, we thank you for mothers and fathers who have been faithful in instructing us. We pray this through Christ our Savior. Amen. there is neither hollow piety nor false modesty in the Apostle Paul. He might wish and pray for the absence of such things from all who would minister the gospel to Christ’s Church. Not that the absence of these things is always understood or appreciated.

    It certainly wasn’t in the Apostle Paul. As a matter of fact, Paul’s frank and direct manner may at times stum his readers. Paul’s frank and direct manner may at times stun us, and even leave us baffled. We may be tempted to say of Paul, this man most certainly doesn’t suffer from false modesty. In fact, he has no modesty at all. Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians is one place in his writings that we are most likely tempted to make this precise, particular judgment. Right away in this epistle, Paul’s words surprise us. might not surprise us if we happen to have the King James Version in front of us, but if we are reading from the New American Standard and some other modern translations, they may in fact indeed startle us and surprise us.

    I have in mind the twelfth verse of the first chapter in 2 Corinthians, where Paul speaks about his boast. Yes, that’s the word. not rejoicing, as the King James has it, but his boast. Namely, his boast with respect to the testimony of his conscience that in holiness and godly sincerity, not in fleshly wisdom but in the grace of God, he had conducted himself in the world and especially towards these Corinthians. We find similar language two verses later, where he writes there in verse 14, “‘I am your reason to boast,’ that’s the word there, “‘I am your reason to boast, as you are my reason to boast in the day of the Lord Jesus.’” Now, we note Paul’s reference in this context, particularly in verse 12 there, to God’s grace, but still we are caught off guard by these remarks about boasting.

    What about the demands for a proper modesty? What about the demands for pure grace? Even the introduction of the language of boasting. compromises grace, does it not, suggesting to us meritorious reward? Had not Paul, in another context, told us boasting is forbidden? Where, then, is boasting?

    Paul had asked in Romans 3.27. It is excluded, he exclaims.

    Have we found then, here in 2 Corinthians, and in the language here, about boasting a place at which Paul stumbles, where he contradicts himself? When we review the circumstances in which he wrote 2 Corinthians, this problem and the tension it creates becomes all the more pressing. You see, the central message in 2 Corinthians has to do with Paul’s personal defense of his ministry. A personal defense of his ministry. such a personal defense that we find ourselves asking, in the words that Paul himself suggests at the beginning of the third chapter in 2 Corinthians, we find ourselves asking if Paul has not improperly now begun to commend himself. Circumstances with respect. to the writing of this letter are these, which you might understand a little bit about the background.

    Sometime during his third missionary journey toward the end of the fifties, A.D. fifties, while staying at Ephesus, Paul made an emergency trip to Collins. The purpose of this trip was to deal with the still outstanding discipline problem that we read about in 1 Corinthians chapter 5, the case in which a church member was cohabiting with his stepmother, living with this woman as if this woman were his wife.

    Paul failed in his mission and returned to Ephesus quite discouraged. The Corinthians had proved especially resistant to him. This had led Paul’s opponents, this had led Paul’s enemies at Corinth, and yes, even within the Corinthian church, of which there seemed to have been a number, to mock him, to ridicule him. You find something of this the content of the ridicule and the mockery in 2 Corinthians 10, verse 10, where it seems that Paul is quoting his opponents, his enemies. They say, Paul’s letters are weighty, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech is contemptible. As a result of this crushing defeat and these attacks, Paul then wrote his so-called Sorrowful Letter, a letter lost to us, a letter that does not appear in the New Testament canon, but is referred to in 2 Corinthians 2, verse 4. It is also referred to in the 7th chapter, verses 8 and 12.

    Anyway, he sent this sorrowful letter now from Ephesus by one of his fellow workers, a man by the name of Titus, whose presence in Corinth, having arrived with the letter, was to add weight to the letter’s sharp and anguished appeal. However, before Titus could return to Paul, In Ephesus, with news from Corinth, Paul had had to flee from Ephesus because of the riots there. Riots spoken of, you may recall, in Acts chapter 19. Paul then left Ephesus, traveled north to Troas, hoping that Titus would catch up with him there with word from the Corinthian church. Paul makes mention of this, you will note, in the thirteenth verse of the second chapter there in 2 Corinthians. But not finding Titus at Troas, Paul then crossed over into Macedonia, and there finally Titus joined up with him.

    Titus brought a most amazing message with him. The Corinthians had repented of their actions and attitudes towards Paul. At least this is what seems to be the case with the majority in the congregation, or specifically the leadership of the Church. And this congregation was now dealing with the offender in their midst. Paul is on his way to Qom, coming down from the north country of Macedonia towards Qom, and as he comes he is filled with great joy over this news that has been brought to him by Titus.

    So he writes 2 Corinthians to express his great joy. Now, there are other reasons why he writes it, as I’m sure some of you know. He must warn the Church not to deal too harshly with that sinful man, because you see, not only has the Church repented, but this sinful man has also repented of his sin and mended his ways. There is another purpose for the letter that makes its presence known as we work our way through 2 Corinthians.

    And that is that Paul is interested in reminding these Corinthians about the severe need of the Saints in Judea, and to ask them to be ready with their gifts and offerings when he comes. But the outstanding difficulty at Corinth, and the one that concerns us most for our message this morning, is the fact that there continues in this Church to be the presence of those who are diametrically opposed to Paul his ministry and his message. Paul’s enemies have survived his visits and his letters to this point.

    It would seem that these people, to be sure, are quite full themselves. They have not hesitated themselves to boast. to boast about all sorts of things, from their pedigree to their eloquence. They believing, convinced, that Paul has no eloquence whatsoever. So they are boasting about all sorts of things. Yes, their pedigree, their eloquence, and even their charismatic experiences. and they have used these credentials to puff themselves and to discredit Paul in the Corinthian vows.

    Paul now responds. Paul responds in this letter, our letter, 2 Corinthians. To be sure, his response in large measure seems to be offered with a bit of tongue-in-cheek. If you read the conclusion of 2 Corinthians 10-13, you will there run smack dab into Paul’s sarcasm. He confesses to the Corinthians that he’s going to now engage in a bit of foolishness. But even though there is this tongue-in-cheek quality to Paul’s response, there is that note found in 2 Corinthians throughout the entirety of it that makes us wonder if Paul doesn’t smell a kilt. And because he does, he has decided to fight fire with fire, matching boast to boast. as if his enemies weren’t only those flesh-and-blood enemies in Corinth, but that enemy within that prodded him within his own soul to violate the canons of Christian modesty and humility.

    Paul seems to make matters all the worse by what appears to be his most deliberately composed boast, his most deliberately composed rhapsody upon his own importance. And I have in mind here 2 Corinthians chapter 3. Just how important Paul portrays himself to be is nothing less than startling, if not shocking. Now you’ve heard the reading of it this morning.

    You realize how much the figure of Moses figures in Paul’s argument at this point. The prominence of Moses in this third chapter of 2 Corinthians may well be because of his opponents. His opponents were making their ghost based upon a claim whereby they were then claiming Moses for themselves. These claiming Moses, even to the point of suggesting that they, along with Moses, have Moses’ place in the church. And how can you get any higher than that? that they were the counterpart to Moses, and that they actually spoke with Moses’ authority.

    Their claims were backed up by their proficiency in the law. They were experts. Their claims were backed up by charismatic visitations comparable to those of experiences with the Lord at Sinai and in the wilderness. And also, their claims were backed up by the wide following that they had, the numbers that they could claim.

    But now Paul, in this situation, steps out in what could be judged his most outrageous passage. If his opponents have claimed Moses, Paul now suggests that they have made an incredible blunder. Well, the ministry Paul claims doesn’t merely stand alongside of Moses’ ministry. It is not merely an extension of Moses’ ministry, as if we are comparing things here that are alike. No, Paul’s ministry leaves Moses’ ministry in the shadows and even in the dust. And even more, Paul says, his own ministry has a glory that leaves Moses’ ministry with no glory whatsoever.

    Verse 10, The little one to which the boast of Paul’s opponent in claiming Moses could reach is the little that spells out the words, in the estimation of the Apostle Paul, because the level to which Moses was brought by God in his ministry was a level at which the glory of his ministry faded away. It didn’t last. Any more than the shine on his face lasted when he had been in the presence of God. Paul adds insult to injury.

    He identifies Moses’ ministry as being a ministry of the letter, verse 6, as being a ministry of death, verse 7. He identifies it as being a ministry of condemnation, verse 9. Over against this, Paul’s ministry is of the Spirit. It is of life. It is a ministry of righteousness, that is, of justification. and one of abiding, that is, eternal glory. It is a ministry of liberty as opposed to a ministry of slavery. So suggests Paul in verse 17. And most amazingly of all, it is a ministry that now affects transformation. as we, its recipients, are transformed from a glory appropriate to our present existence in this creation to a glory that belongs to heaven above. No, a glory that belongs to Jesus Christ himself, as he has been transformed from humiliation to exultation through his death and resurrection.

    It would seem, as Paul speaks in this fashion, setting his own ministry even above and beyond that of Moses, that the Apostles’ vanity could not be more extreme. How do you think you are, Paul? How dare you make these claims? If there is to be a glory at all with respect to a ministry that pertains to God, it has to be mediated through Moses, the greatest of God’s servants, and even Jesus. He must be subordinated to that ministry that Moses enacted and performed. But get the full weight now of what Paul is claiming. he is claiming a ministry that not only rises above Moses’ ministry, but actually displaces it. This claim, coupled together with his boast of which we read in chapter 1, and the particular character of his own personal defense of his ministry throughout the entirety of 2 Corinthians appears to discredit Paul, leaving him especially blameworthy in this matter of personal conceit.

    But is this actually the case? Is Paul actually overstepping his bounds? Is Paul vain? Is he conceited? Is he filled with empty boasting? You know the answer to those questions. And that answer is resounding no. Not that there isn’t a boast to be found in the man, but that boast is sublime. is well-disciplined and properly directed. In fact, as strange as it may sound, for Paul to be devoid of this boast which he makes would mean that he has betrayed his calling, the gospel, and his Lord. To not boast damns him. To not boast damns him.

    In this respect, I would direct your attention to 2 Corinthians 10.17. where Paul quotes from Jeremiah the prophet. The words are familiar to you. Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.

    Paul boasts then, as can be proved by a detailed exposition of 2 Corinthians 3 is no boast in himself. It is not a contradiction to grace. This boast that we hear from the Apostle does not originate in the Apostle’s flesh, in his ability, in his cleverness, his so-called strength. Rather, this boasts as a completely different point of origination.

    And with respect to that point of origination, I direct your attention now to the seventeenth verse of the second chapter of 2 Corinthians. For we are not like many, you know who he has in mind, peddling the word of God. but from sincerity, but as from God we speak in Christ in the sight of God.” As from God we speak in Christ in the sight of God.

    The background of this remarkable statement by the Apostle Paul rises out of a complex First of all, it rises out of a consideration of a law court setting and pertains to Paul’s conscience, which now, you see, because of the work of Christ, because Paul is in Christ, finds its closing and confluence. Paul, therefore, is bold. And why? because of who he himself is? No, because of who Christ is, and he is in Christ. Christ in that courtroom setting proves to be the Advocate, and Paul is in Christ.

    The background to this statement at the end of 2 Corinthians 2 also rises out of an Old Testament scene. The scene is Sinai. It has in consideration the subsequent ministry of Moses. You can see in the background of this statement the figure of Moses as he appears before God. How is it that Moses appears before God? As is it, Moses appears by himself before God. And now Paul contrasts his own appearance before God with the appearance that Moses had.

    Paul’s appearance in the sight of God is by and with and through and in Christ, and that is the only way in which he can appear in the sight of God. Therefore, the very claims of Christ are in the balance as Paul asserts his case and makes his defense. And it is no less the case for any of us who would claim Jesus Christ as our Savior.

    Is there a boast that is legitimate, not just to apostles, not just to ministers of the gospel, but to all who name the name of Jesus? Is there a boast that is appropriate for you, the people of God? In fact, we may even ask, are you not compelled to boast? Yes, even boast of your privilege and your position over against all those who glory in their flesh, their ability and their accomplishments. Your privilege and your position being wholly and completely by God’s grace, you being repositioned because of the work of Christ, you being included in Christ as you stand before God in Him.

    Such boast as this, no apostle, worth his salt, no minister, worth his salt, no Christian, worth his or her salt, dare forfeit, lest you forfeit your claim to Christ. Don’t draw back, then. Don’t stumble over the Apostle’s words. You read the words about the boast, you may be tempted to think that this smacks of a false modesty, but don’t be deceived by a false piety.

    Instead, grab hold of the full import of the gospel and your confidence which is found nowhere else. Your boldness found in Jesus Christ and in him alone. Don’t let go of that. And be bold to boast with him who boasts. both in the Lord and I am determined to both enough except Christ and him crucified.

    Father, we know that there is that habit in religious circles to identify proper piety with a retiring and even sheepish spirit. To identify piety with a lack of assertiveness, a lack of boldness, and most certainly the absence of a boast. Even in this matter, would you forgive us? And Lord, would you forgive the ministry of your church, where it is less than bold, properly bold, filled with that boast which is in you, and overflowing with a confidence that comes from standing in Christ, in the presence of our God.

    Help us, our Father, where we are weak. Weak, that in a sinful manner, that we might be strong, properly strong in our Savior. Yes, that for the benefit of our own confession, and for the confession of your Church before the world, and before all of her enemies. We pray this for Jesus’ sake.

    The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

  • Kingdom First, Us Second

    Kingdom First, Us Second

    This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “New Heavens & New Earth” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, December 3, 1989.

    About this sermon

    Liberal theology bent faith toward this world and made it a tool for improving life here. In 2 Corinthians 4-5 Paul sets two orders side by side, the outward man wasting away and the inward man renewed, and he fixes faith on what is unseen and eternal. God’s kingdom comes first in that order, and we come after it.

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    Sermon transcript

    When we begin our reading at the end of the fourth chapter, we read into the fifth chapter. This is 2 Corinthians 4, verse 16. Therefore, we do not lose heart. But though our elder man is decaying, yet our human is being renewed and gave on to it. For momentary, life, affliction, is producing for us an eternal wave of life, far beyond all that we know. While we look not at the things which are seen, look at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal. For we know that it is the earthly place which is our house, which for death we have a building from God, a house not made in heaven, eternal in the heavens.

    For indeed, in this house we grow. longing to be clothed with our dwelling in heaven. Too much as we, having put it on, shall not be found naked. For indeed, while we were in this tent, we groaned, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed, but be clothed in order that what is mortal may be swelled up by life. Now, he who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us the Spirit as a flesh.

    Therefore, he is always of good courage and knowing that while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight, We are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. Therefore, also, we have as our ambition rather at home or absent to be pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat at Christ. that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body according to what he has done, whether good or bad. Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men, but we are made manifest to God, and I hope that we are made manifest also in your consciences.

    We are not again commending ourselves to you and are giving you an occasion to be proud of us, that you may have an answer for those who take pride in appearance and not in heart. But if we are beside ourselves, it is for God. If we are beside mine, it is for you. So the word of Christ controls us.

    And it concluded this, one dies for all, therefore all die. He died, and he died for all that they who live should no longer live for themselves, but for him who died and rose again on their behalf. Therefore, from now on, we recognize no man according to the flesh, even though we have known Christ according to the flesh. Yet now we know him thus no longer. Therefore, if any man is in Christ, He is new creation. No things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new.

    Now, all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ. Gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely that God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us The Word of Reconciliation.

    Say it with me. Let the mouth of the Lord hear your prayer. as your people in times past have heard that word, read it in their presence, proclaimed to them. Privilege continues, whether we are of liberty or whether we are bound. Whether we are living in times of oppression and friction, or whether we are living in times in which we are relatively Your word remains my life.

    Pointing out to us Christ, your Son, salvation in Him. Pointing out to us your greatness, your majesty, your glory, and our hope of life. Father, be patient with us. May we give ourselves to your word. May we also restrain the innocence every fiber of our energy, every fiber of our being, so that we might be well concentrated upon your wisdom. This we ask of our Sustenance. Amen.

    There is an interesting passage in Romans chapter 8, Certainly that is a passage that both of us know pretty well. In fact, I’m sure that most of us at one time or another in our lives have memorized portions of that in chapter 10. But the 24th verse is of some note.

    That 24th verse states for us that we are saved by hope. We are saved by hope. A hope that is seen as not hope, but why does one also hope for what he sees? And if we hope for what we do not see, then perseverance is a gain for us. The phrase that is of interest, of course, is the first part of the 24th verse But we are saved by hope.

    It strikes us because that is probably the only passage that expresses that specific idea, or at least expresses it in those words. We hear in other passages that we are saved by grace, we hear by the function of faith, and here, in this passage, we are struck by the appearance of the Word.

    The promotional quote in this passage is very close to what the writer of the official Hebrews is saying about faith. Remember the great statement about faith in Hebrews 11, faith is the substance of things hoped for. evidence of things not seen. Faith, of course, in this context, is further commented on in the eleventh chapter of Hebrews. For in the sixth verse, we are told that without faith it is impossible to please God. Unmistakably, future orientation of faith in that 11th chapter is clearly laid out before us. All of the examples of those who did in fact believe are examples of those who have been a faith with respect to that which is yet future, a confidence, a hope with respect to those yet future things.

    It is this approach to the whole matter of faith, it is this approach that is echoed by the words that we find in Romans 8.24 that lays before us an essential aspect or ingredient for faith itself and for all.

    That future orientation. that future orientation the faith and hope in you are not contentless they have a specific focus and it is in light of that specific focus that we have taken up the subject that we have presently the issue of the new heavens and the new earth. It is my contention that faith and hope have become earthbound. They have been grounded when in fact they are, according to the scriptures, to have taken flight. Faith and hope were to place us in contact with a yet future reality, another world. And yet, from the way in which we have approached faith and hope, they have been reinterpreted so as to have a specific, this world, focal point. Think of yourself. the troubles of your life, the difficulties, or you personally. We could go around the room and see all the hurts or particular problems. And faith is invariably invoked in relationship to those problems.

    And you wouldn’t think that that would be a wrong-headed way to improve the matter at all. But what’s the value of faith anyway? It isn’t to get me out of my problems. What’s the value of hope if it isn’t to make things bearable? How do we speak with respect to our faith, with respect to our home?

    Well, I believe that God’s for me anyway. I believe that things will work out in the end. I believe that, yes, right around the corner, there is a resolution for my problem. Faith is, in fact, what enabled me to cope. I hope that in fact my salary will increase. My job will improve. And so it is that our faith and our hope have the thirty-fifth world orientation. A remedy for the problems at hand, the difficulties that we face. I’m to have faith that I will get well. I’m having problems at home. I’m to have faith these problems will be resolved. This then consumes us so that our faith has no other perspective than that. Its value is seen exclusively in terms of its remedial benefit. It will resolve the problems, it will make life bearable, it will enable us to cope.

    And thus, that essential character of faith and hope is laid out for us by Paul in Romans 8, and the writer to the Hebrews in his 11th chapter is lost to us. about which they are speaking is eclipsed. We don’t see it any longer, it’s gone. And truly, we see no further than the end of our notes. We see no further than the immediate difficulty. Now, we may be excused for this in that our hearts are truly set upon God. We love Him. Our problems are great. They do become overbearing. And in the midst of them, we do become confused.

    But as I have tried to contend In the messages that I’ve brought to you about this subject thus far, there has developed an entire religion under the banner of Christianity that deliberately focuses upon the remedial aspects of faith and hope, and the immediate situations which believers face. An entire religion under the banner of Christianity that is literally, deliberately preoccupied with your problems.

    And that is the substance of this. Faith, value is getting me well. Faith, value is getting me a better job. faith, value is to enable me to endure and grow. That is faith, value. So we are told by the practitioners. That is its focus. Exclusively. Exclusively.

    And that’s what the urgency is. that the vision of the biblical writings is lost from view. The far-distant, the new heavens, the new earth, the eternal world, that which lies beyond, is life forever with God. That’s no longer the focus of the day. Rather, the life here is free of difficulty, free of trouble, free of trouble. And that focus has to do with internal matters. heaven and hell her life and death well we have spoken about another chapter in Hebrews in light of this topic certainly in keeping with the things that we have said during its chapter in Hebrews, in fact, after that great faith chapter, Hebrews chapter 12, which at the end of it speaks about the ultimate, the final, the consummate shaking of all created things. So that that which was intended to be removed is in fact removed by the action itself. That which was intended to be removed. We said, with respect to those verses at the end of Hebrews 12, that what was being set before us was two orders.

    Two orders. One order characterized by the word created, and the other order characterized by the terminology That wish for your needs. That incapable of being shaped. Two borders of reality. The Apostle Paul in his second letter to the Corinthians is speaking with respect to those two borders. and bringing them specifically into view as he would in fact focus the faith and the hope of his clergy and Christians. He too, speaking then, of two orders. One is at work in him presently to bring about and eternal confirmation, the other is losing its strength and becoming ineffectual.

    It, in fact, being left behind. There is one order that is associated with his outer man, which he says is decaying, verse 16 of chapter 4, and there is another order which is associated with the inner man, which is being renewed day by day, but one is becoming weaker and the other is becoming stronger. And it is just the reverse if one were to take account of things merely on the basis of sight. For it’s by our man, it’s by our man, you see, that increases seemingly in strength, The inner man, it is dissipating. All himself under affliction. Being worn down by those who oppose him. Yet this which is not seen is growing stronger, it is gaining strength, even though it is not seen.

    The one order is characterized by momentary light affliction and death, verse 16. And this world is dominated by sight and things seen. It is characterized specifically as that which is temporal, verse 18. The other world is characterized by what Paul calls renewal. It is the world of the eternal weight of glory. Verse 16. Verse 7. This specific world is presently not seen, and in fact is destined to last forever.

    As we move into the fifth chapter, again, the two orders are contrasted for us. The one order is spoken of under the heading of the earthly tent of our house, destined to be torn down. It is an order in which we are found naked in the end. It is an order that is characterized by mortality, verse four. It is an order in which we are absent from the Lord, and at home in the body, an order in which we groan for our destiny yet to be realized. But the other order, This order is spoken of in terms of a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens, verse 1 of chapter 5. It is an order in which we are clothed, an order which is called specifically in verse 4, life. An order called at home with the Lord, verse 8.

    Verses 14 through 16. But one order is that in which Christ died, that all who are His might die with Him, to that order specifically. Verse 14. This order in which Christ died is specifically characterized by the flesh. Verse 16. According to the flesh. Flesh of which even Christ Himself partook.

    The other order is one in which those slain with and in Christ have come alive, no longer living to themselves, but to Him who died and rose again on their behalf. Verse 15. Although only inferred by verse 16, this other order is that of the Spirit standing opposite the order of the flesh. The one order is devoid, moving on to verses 9, 15, 17 through 19, the one order is devoid of the possibility of being in Christ. It is the order of the old, the old creation. It is characterized by the description of old and being old. The old things of which it is composed are passing away. It remains in a condition hostile to God, without reconciliation.

    But the other order, the other order is marked as being in Christ. It is new creation. The order of new things that endure. An order that has already commenced in Christ’s death and resurrection. into which many are now brought through the apostolic ministry of reconciliation. The suite of closed vision in these verses is cosmical, panoramic, that takes us beyond mere consideration of ourselves and places before us two orders of existence, the one passing away, the other enduring. He is placing his stamp upon the truth that there is that creation which is destined to dissolve, that there is the new creation. God’s fresh work.

    And it is unto that that we are brought in and through Jesus Christ. This panoramic sweep by the Apostle Paul places in perspective the personal dimensions of our faith and home. It isn’t that Our personal problems aren’t important to God, not at all. But those personal problems are seen within greater vistas. The vistas of the ultimate hope and the realization of that hope with respect to God’s renewing work by which he brings before us the new creation.

    We are then, in that new creation, our Life is to be defined with respect to it. And in light of that marvelous, grand, and glorious work of God, those personal dimensions of our existence are seen in the right and proper light. This is in fact what the creation was originally destined for. And it is that for which we who belong to Christ are destined. For Paul tells us that the Holy Spirit is the bound payment of that eventual glorious inheritance in the new creation.

    In other days, in the life of the church, the vision was much clearer. At other times, there was a much clearer vision of the things that stood central to the life of faith. It may well be that We have the finer exegesis now, the better commentary. It may well be that we can boast of resilient leaders, but in other times, the Church had a much clearer vision with respect to its hope and the focus of its day. It saw my faith in that other world. It started with that other world. And having settled that matter, the greater issue, the personal problems, the difficulties, day by day, were dealt with away.

    We do need help in our time. But it’s not a matter of us throwing stones at those that don’t have things worked out well. The matter of we ourselves being confused and easily confused. Often times we don’t have much help. The world presses itself in upon us. Seemingly lost in our confusion.

    Please, as you read the word, as you hear it, as you meditate on it, hold it in your grasp, that fine focus with respect to faith and hope. At the center of most importance is eternal life. is the new heaven and the new earth, which is promised to us. Start there, then work backwards. Work backwards into your own personal lives, into your existence. Work backwards to deal with your problems, life, greater issues, eternal life, the new heaven and the new earth, which in fact have been settled in and through Christ. Thank you.

    The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

  • Christ, the Anointed One

    Christ, the Anointed One

    This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of “The Name of Jesus Christ” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, January 25, 1987.

    About this sermon

    ‘Christ’ is not a surname but a title: the anointed one, standing in a line of anointed prophets, priests, and kings stretching back through the Old Testament. Paul’s language of corporate anointing in 2 Corinthians 1:21 and John’s in 1 John 2:20 mean believers don’t merely admire that anointing from a distance. It binds them to Christ himself, already in heaven.

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    Sermon transcript

    For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, even by me and Silvanus and Timothy, was not yea and nay, but in him was yea. For all the promises of God in him are yea and in him amen, unto the glory of God by us. Now, he which establishes us with you in Christ and hath anointed us is God, who hath also sealed us and given us that down payment of the Spirit in our hearts. Moreover, I call God for a record upon my soul, that to spare you I came not as yet on the court. Not for that we have dominion over your we have dominion over your faith, but our helpers of your job or by faith.

    And then from first John chapter two. Beginning with. This is 1 John 2, beginning with verse 18. Little children, it is the last time. And as ye have heard that Antichrist shall come even now, there are many Antichrists whereby ye know that it is the last time. They went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us, but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. But we have an anointing from the Holy One, and ye know all things. I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth. Who is the liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is Antichrist that denieth the Father and the Son Whosoever denieth the Son the same hath not the Father, but he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.

    Let that therefore abide in you which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise that he hath promised us. even eternal life. These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you. But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you. But as the same anointed teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, And even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him. And now, little children, abide in him, that when he shall appear we may have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming. If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him.

    Let us pray briefly. Our hearts, Lord, are melted before you. Do place before us out of your word those visions of your coming, our appearance before you, and that that appearance means that we do in fact melt. all of our pretense and show God. But though, Father, we bow before you, it is your intent that we might stand upright, and thus, Lord, by your word you beckon us and grant us assurances concerning our election in and our standing and status before you as sons and daughters of the King. This through Christ. Teach us more and more about our Savior. We would be built up through Him who is our life. Amen.

    I decided this morning to take a little break. We have been plowing through Matthew 5, 17 through 20, and looking at the verses that follow there in Matthew 5, we have been plowing through that passage for some time, and it has been a difficult, arduous task. for a breather, not just for myself but for you as well, maybe something a bit simpler so that we can all catch our breath before we dare plunge in again. Just to rehearse things that we know well, things that are familiar to us in our faith, that are good and proper to keep before us, to rehearse so that our faith is kept on track.

    At Christmas time, we took up some verses at the end of Matthew 1 and spoke about the naming of the child that was to be born. We concentrated on the angel’s visit to Joseph. We spoke about the name that Joseph was to give the child, and that at the direction of the angel.

    You shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. Now there are few verses as magnificent as that to be sure, and I think that you have figured out in keeping with the pattern of things moving through Scripture that name have great significance, so that the name given by the angel to Joseph matches the explanation that the angel then gives of the name or of the child. Jesus means salvation is of the Lord. Salvation is of Jehovah. and it is the New Testament counterpart to the Old Testament name, Joshua.

    And I think that you can recall that as we move through that message on the name, we drew the parallels and the contrast between Joshua, the Old Testament figure, and Jesus, the New Testament deliverer. But looking once more at Matthew chapter one. We will note that there is another name. And you knowing me, you’re probably thinking that he’s going to race on to verse twenty three and pick up on Isaiah seven fourteen, the quotation of that passage there and the name Emmanuel. Well, no, I’m not. I’m not going to deal with Emmanuel this morning. Rather, I’m going to focus on the name that is given in the very first verse of the opening of Matthew. Jesus Christ. That name repeated throughout that chapter. In fact, it is mentioned four times. Jesus Christ.

    Now, how many of us know what the name Christ means? Well, we’ll all learn a little bit something this morning. I’m reminded of the little child who always thought that Christ was Jesus’ last name. No, it wasn’t his last name. In fact, originally, that word Christ was a title. It doesn’t appear to be that, as we have come to understand it in relationship to the figure of Jesus, but originally it was entitled. The English word Christ comes from a Greek word, Christos, and that Greek word means anointed one, the anointed one, and maybe you’re already ahead of me now, because in thinking of 2 Corinthians 1 and 1 John 2, I came to those portions of the reading where anointing is mentioned, and I expressed them for you, so there was the tip-off with regard to what we were going to be speaking about this morning. The name Christ, or the title, comes from the Greek word christos.

    It means the anointed one. Now, it’s come into our vocabulary, and ways with which we are familiar. Maybe some of you have friends that are involved in what we might call the high church, and when there is a baptism and the conferring of a Christian name on a child, it’s called a christening. Well, there’s an anointing. It’s the baptism and the appointment of the name for that child going together. Anointed, or the anointed one. That’s the meaning of the word, the title, Christ.

    Well, behind this, of course, there stands a tremendous amount of wealth out of the Old Testament. The Hebrew word, well, I won’t give you the Hebrew word, I’ll give you what we’ve made of the Hebrew word out of the Old Testament, the word that comes to us out of the Old Testament background that informs the New Testament word Christ. is that of Messiah. Signifying precisely the same thing in the Hebrew language, the word Messiah means precisely the same thing that in the Greek language we have derived from the word Christos or Christ. Messiah, then, means the anointed one.

    And the marvelous thing is that as we see the full picture laid out for us throughout Scripture, we become aware that this one who is called the Messiah or Messiah, this one who is called the Christ, Christ, he is also the one being anointed who has the power to anoint. The anointed one. Also, the anointer.

    Those passages then in second Corinthians and first John become very important for us. This, of course, picked up upon in documents here to the church, like the Heidelberg catechism, even the Westminster catechism, in which it is made plain that we become participants in the anointing that has been conferred upon Christ. become participants with him, the anointed one.

    In filling out this idea of Christ, the Messiah, thinking about it as it comes to us out of the riches of the Old Testament, we can think about various figures in Old Testament times who were anointed. We think of how certain individuals within Israel assumed a position within Israel, not of their own choosing. Rather, they were chosen unto those positions and offices were conferred upon them, and they were set apart by an anointing by an ordination. And therefore, they were looked upon as set apart for certain functions and responsibilities, within the life of the people of God. Who comes to mind first with regard to anointing?

    Well, if you think of 1 Samuel, you think of the actions of that prophet priest Samuel, that judge, the one who seems to have had every office in Israel. You think immediately of the figure of Saul having been anointed by Samuel for the office of king, the king then. being an anointed office within Israel, the Kings being set apart for their responsibilities and duties. We think of David, how Saul was ruined, how Saul was spoiled through his vanity and through the emptiness that arose within his heart. He even being a premonition of what was in store for Israel as a whole. He being from the least of the tribes, Benjamin, exalted to the top of the heap, and Israel being the least of the nations, exalted to the top of the heap. The story of Israel being played out in her first King Saul. Tragedy upon tragedy.

    Samuel going to the house of Jesse at Bethlehem, and there anointing another David, you remember. But what was David’s attitude towards Saul? Do you recall? Here was Saul, the anointed of the Lord. He was set apart by God, ordained. And when David has opportunity to lay his hands upon Saul, to take advantage of Saul’s weakness, he instructs his men, don’t you dare lay your hand against the Lord’s anointing. Very special. The anointed ones set apart.

    I might say parenthetically here Do you understand on the background of those actions by David, what is going on in Acts chapter two, when Peter takes on the Jews in Jerusalem? What is the charge that he has laid against the Jewish nation and against the rulers? They, unlike David, have extended their hand against the Lord’s anointed, and they have taken him and executed him. Could there be a more heinous crime on the face of the earth?

    Well, the king had that office. He had an anointing in the Old Testament. We see it in Saul and David. We see the sanctity with which then the office is to be viewed. Were there others who had an anointing in the Old Testament? Besides the king, were there others who were going to back up in your Bible, the book of Exodus, the book of Leviticus. I know that you’re ahead of me here.

    You’re thinking of the priest, the priest among God’s people. He also was anointed. In fact, the high priest there for a special title, a unique role within Israel’s life for he was described as the only thing it’s almost as if the Old Testament term for Messiah was applied to the priest in a special way. He was the Messiah priest, the anointed priest.

    You can see that combination of terms used repeatedly in the book of Leviticus, fourth chapter, third verse, fifth verse, the sixteenth verse, later on in the sixth chapter, the twenty second verse. The role then of the priest. Now, thinking about the king once more, we can. Call to mind the sort of things that that officer was to fulfill, he was to. exercise amongst the people of God, he was to rule, he was to protect with regard to the priest.

    What was he to do? What was his office? He was to make sacrifice. He was to mediate between God and man. He was to stand in the breach. He was to teach as well. He was to make sure that the law, the Torah was given to the people and that they had a proper and right understanding of it. With regard to the high priest, he was to Make that unique.

    That unique journey year by year into the holy of holies there to place the blood of the lamb of atonement upon the altar so that the sins of the people may be removed. The king and the priest. Offices set apart by anointing. In keeping with what we have seen In relationship to that name, or were the king and the priest, the only offices within Old Testament Israel. There was the profit as well. We don’t have any special instance within Scripture of and anointing of a prophet there is reference made to the anointing of Elisha, but we are not specifically told about an anointing ceremony in which Elisha is set apart or any other problem.

    It seems as if the prophetic office was one that arose out of the priesthood and arose for special purposes as the people were in need of a special message from the Lord. The prophets were called out of the priesthood at large, and then they went and declared the message of God in order to call the people back to obedience. They were, in effect, the executors of God’s lawsuit against his people. They, too, of course, were set apart, but they’re setting apart being an extension of that ordination, that anointing that was conferred upon the priest.

    But judging from the Old Testament now, thinking about those who bore the anointing in the Old Testament, Saul, David, Aaron, the other priests, even the prophets, are we left as we conclude the Old Testament with an overwhelming sense of the perfection of these offices in the performance of the functions related to them by no means for the king’s stumble and fall.

    The king proved unworthy. The king proved to be men filled with weakness, overcome by David himself, the greatest among them, not being an exception. And what of the priest? Will they fare any better than Aaron, who was at the head of the priestly order in Israel. You remember how Aaron fell, how he stumbled, how he led the people into sin? No. Beyond Aaron, they look for one greater.

    Beyond the sons of Aaron, there must be one who will come whose priesthood is perfect without sin, one who need not make atonement for his own sin, one who is in himself. sinless. A greater king yet. One whose rule does not fail, one whose protective interest in us does not fall by the wayside. A priest and a king who is perfect, and a prophet, a prophet who teaches the fullness of the reality of God’s presence and the blessings of his kingdom. Yes, the Old Testament As the people of God are looking forward to one who will perfectly fulfill his ordination, perfectly keep his office. The one who in his anointed anointing does not disappoint the Lord, the one who is perfect king, perfect priest, perfect prophet. So it is that the stage is set for the coming of the Messiah, not a Messiah, not just another anointed one, but the Messiah. So intimately now is Jesus attached to this hope of Israel that the article, the, drops away, no longer the title, it becomes a name, for there is no other Messiah, but Jesus, none.

    There is no other King. There is no other priest. There is no other profit. But Jesus. Jesus Christ. Or as Paul says often. Christ Jesus. Truly. The anointed. You can think of the story of his ordination is anointing. It’s recorded for you in Matthew three and other places in Scripture. He is baptized in the Jordan, and what an ordination it was. Grander than that of Aaron, grander than that of Saul or even David. Here you see the anointed one, the hope of Israel, the fulfillment of all their expectations, the one who is going to overcome the deficiencies that are in the past. the spirit of the devil on. The heavens break apart and the voice of this is. In whom I am well. The ordination. The ordination the anointing of Jesus. The Messiah the Christ.

    But as I said, and intimated to you at the beginning, our focus was to be on 2 Corinthians 1 and 1 John 2, the fact that this one who is the anointed is the anointer, and that you have now been blessed with an anointing yourself. Think of those passages, run through them in your mind. The 1st, 2nd Corinthians 1 passage there pertains to the unity of the people of God and the integrity of the servant that Paul is as he endeavors to minister to these Corinthians. And the fact that he with them share a common anointing and there is this bond between them so that, by root of this anointing, the Apostle is not set apart from them, nor they from him, but they together are set apart by God, they sharing an anointing. Here, the unity of the people of God underscore.

    Now, he who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God, who has also sealed us, the inclusive pronoun. and gave us the spirit in our hearts of the pledge of down payment and earn of the inheritance that is out the commonality of this anointing that and isn’t that what is emphasized in first John two where John is so bold as to say you received an anointing and by that anointing you know all things.

    We might be thinking here that this anointing in mind by John, as he speaks of it, and possibly the anointing that’s in view here in 2 Corinthians, pertains specifically to the prophetic role, that we have a knowledge of things that are hidden from the world. That is true. That is true. The focus is upon those things that are made known to us and in us, and we all have that anointing, from the least of us to the greatest of his from the smallest, the youngest to the oldest.

    It is an anointing that comes upon us, given to us by God through Jesus Christ, the anointed one. We, the anointed ones as well, and by the anointing, we know all things. Primarily, we know eternal life. And by virtue of that, we become those who are able to make assessments of all things. the eternal life that has been given to us. Is life a mystery? Is life confusing? Is life a distress to you?

    You will not understand it by standing on the earth and looking up. The only way that you can understand life is by standing in heaven and looking down. And it’s precisely that vantage point that your anointing gives you. You have to stand in heaven and look down. You have to begin with eternal life to understand life. This anointing, which we share in Christ, therefore gives us a vantage point in the risen, exalted Christ in heaven.

    And by virtue of that, we too have become kings. Do you not know that you will judge angels? I didn’t make that up. Paul wrote that to the Corinthians. Do you not know that you will judge angels? By your anointing, you are a priest. You become an intercessor for others. There is the priesthood of all believers. You become a priest in that you are a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable under God, offering up yourself to Him, which is your proper, right, spiritual labor. And you are prophets. You are prophets as well. your life becoming a declaration of the excellence of God.

    One final thought. We’ve spoken about what Christ means. Messiah. The Old Testament background, prophet, priest, and king. New Testament fulfillment in Christ. We’ve spoken about how you are Those who participate in the anointing of Christ, you have been anointed as well. But do you see now that the very thing that David said about Saul and the very thing that Peter pressed upon the people in Jerusalem with regard to Christ is pressed before the world with regard to you?

    How dare the world reach forth its hand and lay its hand upon you, the Lord’s Son? How dare them? You are the apple of the Lord’s eye. How precious in the sight of the Lord are the death of his saints. Oh, woe to the world that in its presumptive pride and arrogance and utter stupidity it would reach forth its hand to do violence against the Lord’s might. Your vindication is clear and certain. Throughout the world, you can be confident of this, that the Lord’s people shall indeed be saved and vindicated because they have received the anointing and God will protect them and execute justice in their behalf.

    Let us pray. Father, for us to call Jesus Christ, what does it mean for us to do that? But to acknowledge that he is the anointed one, the one supremely and specifically, especially set apart as our king, as our priest, as our prophet. And that by root of his sacrifice, by root of his ministry for us, we too have received an anointing. and an anointing father that binds us together in unity, that proclaims to us that yes, we know all things from the vantage point of eternal life, that we have become kings and priests and prophets unto you through him, and that we are secure, for not even the world can stretch forth its hand against us and think that it shall escape your righteous judgment. Father, we pray that therefore we might lie down at night in peace and security and arise in the morning with the song of deliverance upon our lips.

    The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

  • What Suffering Is and Is Not

    What Suffering Is and Is Not

    This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Misc. NT sermons” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, August 6, 1978.

    About this sermon

    Suffering gets careful definition here, both what it is and what it isn’t, traced all the way back to Genesis 3:15’s enmity between the serpent and the woman’s offspring. Revelation 11’s two witnesses supply a further picture of suffering woven into the church’s own calling. A postmillennial view that expects suffering to simply diminish over history gets a direct refutation.

    More sermons from 2 Corinthians · Browse all sermons

    Sermon transcript

    2 Corinthians, Chapter 4, Verses 13 and 14. I know that some of you will have comments to make about working backwards, backwards through a chapter, or whoever did that. But here we are in Verses 13 and 14 of 2 Corinthians, Chapter 4. 2 Corinthians 4, 13 and 14.

    But having the same clear faith according to what is written, I believe, therefore I spoke. We also believe, therefore also we speak, knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and will present us with you.” Lord, we must await You and Your word, for there is no word given to man that is wise except Your word. And therefore, our God, we would wait upon You and that word, having received life and desiring to continue in that life, that our life themselves might be conformed to the word of life granted to us in this word and in Jesus Christ, the word of God incarnate. Now strengthen us, our fathers, and may we be open to what You have to say to us. Reform ideas in us that are not according to Your words. Grant us confirmation in those thoughts and sentiments in that spirit that is according to those words which You have granted from the Lord. This is great. This is You.

    We’ve been looking at the matter of affliction and suffering, and how much that plays a dominant part of it.

    In the workshop, we looked at the thirty-first song a couple of weeks ago, And there we try, in ourselves, to wrestle with that problem of how it seems that our own concepts of suffering and affliction oftentimes are all before us in what the words themselves say. There it seems to be that we encounter that occasion wherein the scholar puts back-to-back an affliction that seems to be due to an enemy, and an affliction And how often we have confused all of this, how we confuse it by suggesting that the affliction that we suffer is, after all, something that has to do with some sort of personal warfare going on inside of us, dealing with our own sin and ignorance. That’s fully his sense of that suffering and affliction that we endure in our day, placing it on the level of a battle with our own unsanctified aspects of personality. Now, of course, all of this is not to make light of that internal struggle, because we all know that it is much too real in our experience, spoken of by the Apostle himself in many portions of his letters. how it’s true that the spirit soars against the flesh, and vice versa, and how it’s important for us to understand that continuing problem of is-while-you’ve-been, as it has been taught, But in looking at the perspective of the psalmist, especially given to us in Psalm 31, we then realize that it wasn’t so much that the psalmist was equating his affliction with his sin, but rather to say, in effect, that his affliction due to his enemies was gaining the upper hand because he was exhausted by his own initiatives.

    And because of that sin, he found himself worn out, unable to fight the fight, to resist, to endure, to hold out in the battle with the real enemy. But victory will come with triumph. But triumph has been realized in me. And there, not only is the one sinning, but also the sacrifice bearing upon himself and his people, according to the power of resurrection, over the enemy, bringing strength to even those above. We know our iniquities and sins were exhausted by the time we came to the end of the group of degrees.

    We went on from there and considered the momentary life afflictions of the second group in four-seventeen. Remember what we said about that. The momentary life affliction there is not the day-to-day aches and pains that we experience as we get out of bed at morning. Yet, as I said with regard to a little bit of transgression, this is not to make light of those everyday aches and pains.

    If God is unconcerned with us, he certainly is concerned with us. We have laughter, compassion, and disdain showered upon those who are stuck with us. Peter’s mother-in-law has a theme. And Jesus has compassion and heals him. We have the instructions of the Apostle James, that if anyone here is sick, let him call upon the elders of the Church, and they will lay their hands upon him and pray over him.

    Sins will be forgiven, and the sick will be healed. is concerned about the everyday aches and pains that we undergo, and the sicknesses and infirmities that we experience. But we need to learn something. of the death and peril of the Christian experience is what? What exactly were we getting into when we become Christians? By considering the death of this concept and description of affliction as it comes to us in the Word of God. Can I say something to you this morning?

    The affliction spoken of by the psalms in the 10th verse of the 116th Psalm The affliction spoken of by Paul in verse 17 of 2 Corinthians 4, the context in which the statement occurs, I believe, therefore, All these things—indeed, practically the whole tenor tone of Paul’s Second Synthesis is concerned yet with that element of Christian spirit which in this life there will not be any alleviation of.

    So if you don’t have the stomach for it, this isn’t the place for you. If you don’t have the heart for it, there will be no glory. This is the matter. This is the matter about which the comfortable American Christians cannot understand and cannot implement into their views of the gospel, because their tendency is to psychologize or to spiritualize every kind of reference to a glitching found in the Word. They become guilty of turning affliction into an internal battle, instead of a real conflict between ourselves and real souls. A conflict between the righteous and the wicked. I’m not embarrassed in using those terms.

    For the Word of God uses those terms. And why you can go so far as to say that it is this, the affliction of the saint, that characterizes them as saints, as the people of God. suffering not because of their own inequity, not because of some sort of emotional and psychological imbalance, suffering rather because they are put upon by those who are wicked and unrighteous, who know not God, and have no use for the things of the spirit. There is every kind of promise in this world, and in many ways, I suppose, a Christian can stand and be a part of those promises, and even glean from those promises, raise the wife and comfort her. These are the promises of the world, the promises held out for us that eventually, through genetic engineering, we’re going to experience the perfect humanity.

    What will we alleviate? It will be negative suffering, sickness will be overcome. There will no longer be any cancer in the world that is spoiling political life. We’ll be able to revitalize ourselves, regenerate ourselves biologically by organ transplants. We will be able to prolong life indefinitely.

    I being a Christian, do I have to step back and say these things are impossible? No. That the kind of suffering that is experienced in humanity in general is something that is beyond the capability of the science to resolve. Do I have to say that? I don’t think so. But one thing I can say to you with absolute certainty is that they will never come short of glory in which the saints will not be perfected. That suffering will always be there.

    This is why I have a great deal of impatience to see with the post-Moravians. The post-Moravians envision a day when that persecution and suffering will come to an end. This side of the world—I don’t read that in my Bible—the invitation of the Gospel will always be, until Christ comes again, one of union with Him in His suffering, so that we might be raised up in glory to Him.” What kind of evangelism is that? The kind of evangelism that we are accustomed to. and tell you what kind of experience is in store for you when you number yourself with those who believe that.

    Agony. Nothing less than agony. As said, there are a number of misinterpretations of what exactly the affliction and the suffering of the saints is in this world. And oddly enough, many of those misinterpretations are coming from the Church, or from Christians, who spoke about emotional or psychological trauma.

    That is a brilliant view here. This doesn’t mean we can’t be sympathetic, or that we can’t minister. It merely means that we be impressed with what the intent of the Word of God is saying. And if we’re going to apply things, apply things in the way He intended.

    We have interpreted affliction in terms of fluid. We have interpreted affliction in terms of the environmental condition of mankind, as if the condition of man is the enemy. Yet, essentialists, or some of them, have interpreted the affliction as being restraint. That which keeps me from making offensive decisions for myself on my own terms.

    Then there’s Thorin Kierkegaard, that Danish philosopher of the last century. If there was ever a man who had a philosophy of suffering, it would soar in his ear to God, but yet not a philosophy according to knowledge or according to the Word, even though he used the scriptures to support his views. He wrote a book entitled The Gospel of Our Suffering, but his understanding of suffering was this, to quote him, to walk alone and to walk on one’s own. Affliction, therefore, suffering, is equated with the life of loneliness. Some of you who know something about the life of a storyteller realize that, to a large extent, his philosophy was the result of unequated love. She wouldn’t marry him. The affliction and suffering, then, of an obstacle is not the life of loneliness. It isn’t illness, it isn’t psychological trauma, it isn’t environmental issues of man, it isn’t restrictions that are allowed.

    The affliction is ultimately traceable to Genesis 3.15, and the enmity, the hostility that has been placed, solemnly by God, between the feet of a woman and the feet of a servant.

    It is the hostility that arises in that warfare, Satan himself having been lacking in this world. who are intent upon resisting, and destroying, and oppressing, and making light of, and exploiting the righteousness of God and His Christ.” Psalm 2. Many of you know that by heart, but if you refer to it in your mind, that’s what’s in view. Literal oppression and affliction due to righteousness. the fact that, yes, there are kings in the world who are intent on stamping that righteousness out. It’s not just merely being indifferent to it, but resisting it in such a way as to obliterate it.

    Do you think that that kind of spirit is only abroad, in the socialist countries of this world? Do you think that that spirit is unfounded in this country in which you live? Please don’t be naive. You who think are more a minority than you imagine. even in this country.

    But these things are not ever can get us down. How interestingly, at the very beginning of the conquest, our God can make such promise that the head of the serpent will be crushed beneath the feet of his people. That promise being realized is what In the midst of it, in our response to these laws of incomprehension, I don’t understand why all these things are happening to me. I don’t understand why the Church is in this position. I don’t know why the Saints have to undergo all this kind of impunity. I can’t quite grasp it.

    Don’t be foolish. These are the very things that Christ told you to have. He has promised it to you, but He has also said that you, on the basis of your death and resurrection, can’t help certainly that through that secondary preservation, and that’s why you can never despair. That is why the apostle himself doesn’t despair. Turn to the first chapter of 2 Corinthians and listen to what he says there. He says in verse 8, for we do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction.”

    There it is, our affliction, which came to Washington up in Asia, that we were burned excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despair even of life. Indeed, we have the sentence of death within ourselves in order that we should not trust in ourselves. God who raises the dead, who delivered us from so great a peril of death, and will yet deliver us, he on whom we have set our oath.” Our situation is then not questioning God in His power, why is this happening to us, why are conditions this way, but instead rejoicing that our God, in all our afflictions, hears us, and answers us, and delivers us, if it is only with the resurrection.

    So we die. The issue, you see, Sam, is never one of survival. The issue is never survival in this world. I look at our congregations. The issue for this small, little flock is not survival. Everyone has sinned. It’s not whether we’re here five years from now. That’s not the issue.

    The issue is, do we love God? Do we obey Him, and do we affirm? in our faith in His poverty and in His Father’s power, that our thoughts can raise the dead and us included. That if the Church suffers in this way, the day will come when all things will be righted, and its glory will be seen, and it will be vindicated before the world.

    I hear this hope of that. Not with some sort of spirit by thinking that I’ve associated myself with a loser. And I don’t want to be a part of such a thing. I’ll go down with it because, you see, the more I descend into that suffering and affliction that comes upon us because, yes, because we are maligned. The more I am assured that I am conformed with Christ, and the more that I am assured that I am conformed with Him, the greater is my faith that I shall be raised up in the name of the Father. If I share in His Son, I shall also share in His resurrection.

    Now, this isn’t only an individual thing, and I want to say this to you in conclusion. And I must say to you that I do have a rather unique perspective on Revelation 11, and if you don’t know about Revelation 11, I encourage you to go home and read it. That is actually about the two witnesses. I understand those witnesses not so much as individuals, but as the Church in a twofold aspect.

    Christian culture, the Christian city, and the Christian cult, or the Christian service of worship. The people of God is worship, and the people of God are God’s Word. The faith of the Church is the faith of her Lord, and as the Lord dies, so the Church shall die. And the world shall sing songs of praises and delight and merriment in that day, when the Church is here no longer and the effects of the Church are no longer felt in the culture and in the religious community of this world.

    But God, as Revelation 11 tells you, will raise up His witnesses in all the nations. And how it has been in every generation. The Church does, in conformity to her Lord, in no other time better than when she perceives the intent of her Lord’s work. Her life is no longer precious to her. She gives it up willingly. in conformity to Christ, casting herself completely upon Him, knowing that He will raise her up. And that is our vindication. Do you understand what I’m saying? The issue isn’t our sin. The issue is our faith. I believe, therefore I spoke. What did I do wrong? And even in my affliction, in my suffering, God heard me and helped deliver me.

    And you know that inside yourself, okay? Is this what you carry about with you? Yes, this is the dying of Jesus in your body, so that you might pray about Him. Is this what you’re like? Oh, you need this. You need this because it’s dangerous. If you don’t have it, the day of the Lord will bring change. Change. It’s terrible this way. It is. It means nothing.

    Lord Father, we pray that Jesus might become all-embracing, attractive, warm, even in suffering. And though no one would look upon him, this born being, without affectiveness, ugliness, twistedness, yet may we embrace him, even in his pain, that we conform to him. For righteousness, and that also, Father, we might have that power from the Lord whenever trial comes our way, and not place our faith in our survival, but in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and our resurrection and our new station before Him very strong. That, our God, is what we need. holy praise and thanks, Father, that you might mercifully flow us with your grace, pouring into our spirits the fullness of your love, into the fullness of your own Holy Spirit, that we might be those who exhibit the rewards of God in this perverse, wicked, adulterous generation. Holy Father, we pray unto you. Our final hymn is hymn number 223, 223.

    The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

  • Whose Right to Educate?

    Whose Right to Educate?

    This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Misc. NT sermons” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, April 13, 1975.

    About this sermon

    The First and Tenth Amendments bear on Christian education, and they weigh against any claimed inherent right of the state to educate children. State education is anti-Christian in its basic assumptions, and the problem runs deeper than poor execution. Responsibility for a child’s education belongs to the family.

    More sermons from 2 Corinthians · Browse all sermons

    Sermon transcript

    The reading this morning is taken from 2 Corinthians chapter 10, 2 Corinthians chapter 10, the first five verses. But now I, Paul, myself, urge you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, I will meet when face to face with you, but bold toward you when absent. I ask that when I am present, I may not be bold with the confidence with which I propose to be courageous against some who regard us as if we walked according to the flesh.

    For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. For we are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God. And we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. Lord, it is only in your word that we see the light that you have for us. For coming in that Word is the powerful effect of your Spirit, for your Spirit and Word always work together, bearing witness to Christ the Savior and exalting Him our Father. We are asking this morning that your Word may be preached and that we may hear and that the faith of our souls may be the faith of men.

    The firm is on Christian education this morning, so this last week I went out and bought a new pair of glasses so I looked the part. A couple of weeks ago I received a phone call. The person on the other end of the line was issuing to me an invitation to participate in the dedication of the new wing of the Farrakhan Elementary School, Heidi Klein. And I’d like to explain the reason for that this morning to you. And in doing so I hope to make clear my own position with regard to education, and particularly Christian education.

    I also want to say at the beginning of this that I’m not on a personal crusade of any kind. And I know that there are here this morning many who have given their lives to public education. And I know that in your hearts you have never once compromised your faith and allegiance to Jesus Christ. And you would never do so, even if it meant your job.

    And so I hope that no one will interpret my remarks this morning as an indictment against anyone. but merely an explanation of my own position in hopes that you may understand my position and why I say some of the things that I do at particular times. All right.

    The reasons for turning down the invitation to participate in the dedication service this afternoon to Ferriton Elementary School. I was told that it would be on a Sunday, and I had just turned down an invitation from the Cub Scouts, the very pack which this church sponsors, to participate and attend their Pinewood Derby, which was also going to be held on a Sunday afternoon. Now, I do have some definite opinions about Sunday and the use of the Lord’s Day. And it’s not my purpose to get into a discussion about that this morning. I’m hoping, the Lord willing, to reserve those comments for April 27th.

    So we’ll leave that item where it lies. The other matter was the fact that I was invited to pray. And knowing that there would be many there that had no relationship to Jesus Christ whatsoever, being aware that there were administrators, members of the board, teachers, and others connected with the school who had no love for the Savior, I felt that I would be tempted to turn my prayer into a sermon. And I didn’t think that that was proper.

    Also, I feel finally, and I believe this to be the most basic point, that there is an inherent inconsistency at work in a school that is run by the laws of the state, which forbids any specific and definite mention of God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, in inviting a minister of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ to pronounce a blessing in Christ’s name over a building that does not recognize his Lordship, and has no desire to do so. That leads us to consider what is state education. Basically, state education is a publicly funded, compulsory system of education which is bound by the law of the state and by the Constitution of the United States of America.

    In the Constitution of the United States of America, there are two amendments that are important for the public school system. The first one is the Tenth Amendment, and that Tenth Amendment provides the basis for the legitimacy of the state being involved in education at all. What does that amendment say? It says that powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states, respectively, or to the people. On the basis of the Tenth Amendment, I almost said the Tenth Commandment, on the basis of the Tenth Amendment, the state has declared that it has a legitimate right and even obligation to educate all the children within its boundaries. It has declared that it has an inherent right by law to educate our children. The second amendment that is of importance to us in this regard is the First Amendment, and we all know what that amendment is.

    This is the amendment which prohibits the Congress from making any law respecting the establishment of religion. And according to recent interpretations of the First Amendment, any facility which is operated by the state is prohibited from supporting either directly or indirectly any particular religious doctrine or cause. When I start praying to the Father in the name of the Son, that’s pretty particular. That’s definite religious doctrine, and I am involved in a religious cause, that of spreading the gospel and honoring the Lord Jesus Christ.

    Now, up to this point, you may say, I don’t see the problem, because you, like myself, believe basically in the separation of powers, and that’s what is at the heart of the First Amendment. The Church is not to rule the State, and the State is not to rule the Church. But you see, it isn’t the matter of the First Amendment and the separation of powers that is the problem. It is really the implementation of the Tenth Amendment that is the problem.

    Really the question that we are asking ourselves is, does the state have an inherent right to assume the responsibility of educating our children? Or have they usurped that right, a right that is not theirs? Have they gone beyond a true legal boundary, a legal boundary which would be inscriptious? That’s the question. For you see, the conclusion of the matter is simply this.

    If the state is to become involved in education, By the very nature of the case, by law, according to the Constitution of the United States, that education must be, it has to be, it can’t be anything else but an education without God. At least for God it matters. a definite God, the God of the Scriptures, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because then, you see, you would be involved, the state would be involved in establishing a religion, and it cannot do that. As I say, we are not arguing about the separation of powers, We are arguing about the legitimacy of the right of the state to assume the responsibility to educate our children.

    You may not be unduly concerned yet, but let’s consider the consequences of this approach to education for a minute. The consequences are simply this. First of all, and probably most importantly, we cannot kid ourselves. An education without God eventually must become a godless education. A godless education in the sense that it must eventually become morally perverse and corrupt. How can I say something like this?

    I say on the authority of Jesus Christ himself, who said that there is no neutral ground with regard to himself. You cannot stand on the fence and say that you’re going to have a neutral middle ground from which God is not going to be included, into which God is not going to be included, or from which he is not going to be excluded. To merely claim neutrality, a middle ground, Jesus Christ says, he who is not for me is against me. If you claim neutrality with regard to God, to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, as far as God is concerned, you are against Him.

    Not for Him, but against Him. The ultimate result of this is that education without God is against God, And in the end it must become godless. To say it even more pointedly, it must become anti-godless by its very nature. And in the end, you see, also it imbibes of that spirit of the Antichrist. For he was not with Christ as against him. There is no neutral ground. There is no middle position. That’s the first consequence.

    Now, to greater or lesser degree, this can be seen in the public education system today. There are some tremendous pockets of resistance, and they deserve our praise and our commendation. and we should offer them any help and assistance in our prayers that we can. There are pockets where people are standing up for the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and telling the state that they have no right to undermine the authority of their homes by teaching their children something entirely different than is taught to them at home by their own parents. What is the second consequence of this approach to education by the state? This assumption that the state has the inherent right to educate our children. Second consequence is this. This education must end playing a charade. It must end in a hopeless hypocrisy.

    For not only has it declared neutrality with regard to the matter of God, we’re going to stand on the fence, and we’re not going to try to influence anyone one way or the other. But it must now claim neutrality in the classroom with regard to every subject that is taught.

    God has nothing to do with arithmetic. And if he does, I can’t tell you, because that is forbidden by the state. God has nothing to do with language, arts, with sociology. He has nothing to do with biology so that we can have sex education courses that teach you the mechanics. The charade and the hopeless hypocrisy is simply this.

    We are being told by the state educators that in the classroom we are not to have teachers who impart value and make moral judgments or interpretations upon the facts that they are presenting. The teachers are to be neutral, the materials to be neutral. You’re just to tell the facts. You’re not to interpret them, you’re not to evaluate them, you’re not to make any moral judgments about them at all. Now, such a view of education is completely impossible. And I know the teachers here this morning didn’t tell you that. I knew exactly where my 6th grade teachers stood on the Civil War. I knew exactly where my senior high civics teacher stood on the election of 1960. I knew who he was going to vote for.

    It was impossible for him to hide that from us, from the remarks that he made in class. I know that my 10th grade biology teacher believed in evolution. And even though it was a theory, he presented it as a fact. as a fact of science. I knew that my 10th grade history teacher hated Jonathan Edwards. And everything that snowed was a pureness. And we had a raging battle going between us throughout that whole 10th grade experience of life. It is impossible to teach without making value judgments. It’s impossible to teach without interpretation. It’s impossible to teach without making moral judgments.

    The sexual attitudes of the health teachers in our public schools will become evident to our children as they are subjected to these teachers in the classroom. If the teacher is promiscuous, it will come out, and the student will know it. The most important thing is to keep yourself from some communicable social disease. But if you love one another, what harm is it? That’s what I heard.

    The interpretation The evaluation of the facts are a part of education, and there is no education without them. As a matter of fact, this is what the charade is, because you see, the teacher cannot help but impart his own values, his moral judgments, and his own interpretations to the child.

    It’s an impossibility. It cannot be done. And to claim that it can, is a lot. Alright, we have the first two consequences and the final one is the clincher. Such an approach to education cannot educate. It’s very basic. And it’s something that is becoming increasingly evident in the educational systems of our nation. We are graduating illiterates. We are graduating people who cannot cope, who cannot deal with reality. Something is wrong.

    It is a self-defeating system because It is a system that is directed not for God, not even in neutrality towards God, but against God. It is a system that is dedicated to interpretations that are not consistent with the Word, nor neutral to it, but against the Word of God. And finally, as we even called ourselves to worship this morning by quoting from those passages in the Old Testament that said, the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, and to depart from evil is understanding. Here is the true perspective to education. It has to be moral. There have to be judgments made. You have to evaluate. You have to interpret. What is necessary is that we have the interpretation that God gives. Basically, in his word. You have his values. You have his moral judgments.

    What alternatives are there then to the state-run educational system? There have been a couple that have been developed, and we’ll just run through them, trying to end on an upbeat, I hope. The first approach was the approach of the church, seeing that it was losing its children to the school, and they devised a program called Release Time, where students would be released to go and receive religious instruction during school time. What was the result of this? The result of this was that Johnny became a schizophrenic. He became a split personality.

    Because, you see, what he was being told, in effect, is that God has everything to do with the Church. He has everything to do with this education here, which I am experiencing during this release time. But he doesn’t have anything to do with this education that I’m experiencing here for the most part of my day. He has everything to do with the Church, but he has nothing to do with the subjects that I am learning in the public school.

    Johnny ends up a very confused boy. He doesn’t understand, and his religious life becomes quite compartmentalized. Certain aspects of his life belong to God, But there are certain aspects that don’t belong to God or that are in a gray area. And I have no responsibility to God there. Sundays belong to God. Monday through Saturday belongs to me or to the state. All right, that’s one alternative. What’s another alternative? Another alternative is the parochial school. What’s the position of the parochial school?

    Parochial school is merely doing the same thing that the state is doing. The state has said that it has an inherent right to educate your children, and it has usurped that right. Here comes the parochial school. It says, the church has the right, the inherent right, to educate your children. You can’t find that nowhere in the Bible. The church’s job is to preach the gospel. The parochial school is not the answer. And I say this against both Catholic and Protestant parochial schools. What is another alternative? I believe that the other alternative is the one that is sanctioned by the Word of God.

    And that is that the inherent right to educate resides in the parent. as he is part of a community. The community that the Christian belongs to is the covenant community that has claimed God’s promises, not only for himself, but for his children. And when I take a vow in baptism to raise my child in the nurture and the admonition I am recognizing some responsibilities that have to do with the whole covenant community of God’s people. It’s bigger than just a little church on a corner in one little town. It involves a whole area of people with a common concern to see their children raised in a way that is consistent with the scripture, and it is honoring to God the Father and to our Lord Jesus Christ. Parents binding themselves together in covenant to see that their children are educated in a way that does not undermine their authority.

    In a way that ensures that if I am teaching my child at home that man is a creature of God, he is not going to go to a school where every textbook in science tells him differently. Every textbook. There is no exception. Well, I am assured that the name of Jesus Christ will not be a swear word, nor an oath, especially on the mouths and lips of teachers and administrators. For I can be assured that those who have been given the responsibility to run the school, to lead God and claim his promises, and who are not declarably atheistic or agnostic.

    This is the structure that demonstrates itself from beginning to end in the scriptures. Covenant people are given the responsibility by Moses to bring up their children to know the law, to teach their children well. The Book of Proverbs is the education of a father to his son, where he is passing on the wisdom that he has gained to his child. That is the structure.

    The structure is the education of God the Father of God the Son. It even has divine sanctity and a divine replica. parental responsibility in educating the child. The state does not have the inherent right to educate my child and he does not have the inherent right to educate your child. The church does not have an inherent right to educate your child. That is not the purpose of the church. It is your job to educate your children. In the context of a community where you can be assured that the things that you believe in your home will be honored in the school that you send your child to.

    Here we have a completely unique view of what education is, because the community that we are dealing with is the regenerated community of God’s people. The people who have received the Spirit of God and by grace they have been transformed so that they are separate from the natural man, For they have divine understanding of the things that pertain to life. That means now that everything is different. The Christian sees the world differently than the non-Christian. The Christian school must see the world differently than the public school. It has a different view of reality, of the world and man.

    It has a view of the world that begins with Psalm 24, verse 1. tells you that the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and day that dwell therein. The world is God’s creation. And Johnny must know and learn that the tree that he sees outside the window is a God-created tree, and when he studies those When he studies those slides in biology class, he must be impressed with the fact that what he is looking at is something that is there because God made it so. Because of creation. And only if he understands the tree, as a God-created tree, does he really understand the tree. He doesn’t know what a tree is unless he sees it as a God-created tree. Man is a creature of God, made in his image.

    We are told that in Genesis 1.27. He is crowned with honor and glory. He is made a little lower than the angels. There is a unique view of man, you see, that is inherent to Christian education that cannot be a part of the public educational system. Man is a sinner. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. That cannot be preached or taught in the public school. We can teach that man has faults, he has errors, but that he is a sinner answerable to God, that cannot be taught.

    And we also teach that the creation is experiencing a new day in Jesus Christ through him, in which all things are being made new. and that we are like a new and mighty army. As Paul himself has said in this passage that we read this morning, we are engaged in a new Christian endeavor in which we are claiming the Lordship of Jesus Christ throughout all of the world and all of life. For Paul says, we are destroying speculations on every lofty thing that is raised up against the knowledge of God. And we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. The Christian approaches mathematics differently than the non-Christian.

    The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.