Grace OPC Sewickley PA

Sermon Series: Considering the Church

  • The Living God and Dead Diana

    The Living God and Dead Diana

    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, September 11, 1994.

    About this sermon

    Ephesus’s great temple to Diana stands behind Paul’s charge to Timothy, in a city where idolatry filled the architecture and the streets. Timothy faced real trouble from idolaters in the church. Against a dead goddess, God calls the church to be his own living glory.

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    Sermon transcript

    We begin this morning our scripture reading in the book of First Kings. We are in First Kings chapter eight. We are beginning our reading at verse one. Give your attention now to the reading of God’s inspired and fallible word. Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the chief of the fathers of the children of Israel, unto King Solomon in Jerusalem, that they might bring up the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord out of the city of David, which is Zion. And all the men of Israel assembled themselves unto King Solomon at the feast in the month of Bethany, which is the seventh month. And all the elders of Israel came, and the priests took up the ark, and they brought up the ark of the Lord in the tabernacle of the congregation, and all the holy vessels that were in the tabernacle, even those that the priests and the Levites bring up.” King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel that were assembled unto him were with him before the Ark, sacrificing sheep and oxen that could not be told nor numbered for multitudes.

    And the priests brought in the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord unto his place, into the oracle of the house, the most holy place even under the wings of the cherubim. For the cherry beans spread forth their two wings over the place of the ark, and the cherry beans covered the ark and the staves thereof above. And they drew out the staves, that the ends of the staves were seen out in the holy place before the oracle, and they were not seen without. And there they are unto this day.”

    There was nothing in the ark save the two tables of stone which Moses put there at Horeb, when the Lord made a covenant with the children of Israel when they came out of the land of Egypt. And it came to pass when the priests were come out of the holy place that the cloud filled the house of the Lord, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of the Lord.

    Then spake Solomon, the Lord said that he would dwell in the thick darkness. I have surely built thee a house to dwell in, a settled place for thee to abide in forever. The king turned his face about and blessed all the congregation of Israel, and all the congregation of Israel stood.

    He said, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, which spake with his mouth unto David my father, and half with his hand fulfilled it, saying, Since the day that I brought forth my people Israel out of Egypt, I chose no city out of all the tribes of Israel to build a house that my name might be therein, but I chose David to be over my people Israel. And it was in the heart of David, my father, to build a house in the name of the Lord God of Israel. And the Lord said unto David, My father, whereas it was in mine heart To build a house unto my name, thou didst well that it was in thine heart. Nevertheless, thou shalt not build a house, but thy son that shall come forth from out of thine own loins, he shall build the house unto my name.

    And the Lord hath performed his word that he spake. And I am risen up in the room of David my father, and sit on the throne of Israel, as the Lord promised, and have built a house for the name of the Lord God of Israel, and I have set there a place for the ark wherein is the covenant of the Lord, which he made with our fathers when he brought them out of the land of Egypt.”

    1 Timothy 3 verse 14. These things write I unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly. But if I carry long that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.

    Without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.” Father, we are desirous of seeing your churches filled up in the full complement of those whom you would draw to yourself. We thank you, our God, that you are blessing your word throughout the world. Help us in our prayers for your servants who minister in your name, that they would be given grace, as also they are preserved in faithfulness, to declare your word aright. We also ask, Lord, that where your people suffer for the cause of the gospel, may they know that there are many who pray for them, even after the likeness of their Savior, who makes intercession for them in heaven without fail. Bless us now as we reflect upon your word, and Lord, we ask that we may go forth from this place, knowing your word better, understanding you, our God, better and better. This we ask in Jesus’ name, amen. It is difficult to imagine a structure more magnificent than the ancient temple to Diana, the goddess of the earth, truly a Mother Earth figure, and also the goddess of love. Her temple was recognized as one of the wonders of the ancient world.

    It was built in the city of Ephesus. Its foundations were laid approximately 500 years before the birth of Christ, just about The Israelites were looking at that pitiful excuse for a temple that they had erected upon their return from the Babylonian exile, their return under the leadership of Zerubbabel the prince and Joshua the priest. While the Jews were weeping over what they perceived to be the lost glories of the reigns of David and Solomon and Hezekiah and even Josiah, the Asians of Ephesus stood at the edge of a dawning golden age. That glory and all its glory burst upon the world two centuries later. in a marriage of East and West under Alexander the Great. Shortly before Alexander’s rise to world dominance, the Temple to Diana in Ephesus, having been in construction now for 260 years, often delayed by vandalism and fire, was completed. In length, it was 425 feet. In breadth, 220 feet. It is now recognized as the largest of Greek temples. On its massive stone and marble base stood 120 pillars, each of them 60 feet in height. This massive structure drew the attention of the entire world, and we can understand how.

    After all, Diana was sort of the native goddess to the world. She in herself drew the attention of the world. She offered not only love, but the promise of fertility, agriculturally, domestically and commercially. Her temple then had become the world’s largest religious center, and also the most famous and the most secure banking institution in the ancient world. The reputation of this temple was only enhanced by its beautiful surroundings.

    The temple faced west, across the Kayster River that meandered past a beautiful, extensive forest to the north, and then past the portal of the temple before flowing on the three or four miles to the Aegean Sea. On the south side of the temple flowed the Salinas River, which emptied into the Kastor. This river came from the city of Ephesus itself. A mile upstream was the port of the city itself. Imagine coming by boat. river from the Aegean, catching sight of that temple, then moving past the temple along its south side on the Salinas River, only then to be struck by the panorama of the city itself, which until that point had been hid behind the temple.

    Picture this boat ride in the early morning hours, the sun rising in front of you, radiating its brilliance behind the temple and city. Seeing this spectacle, you may conclude that you had arrived at the site of the world’s most perfect offering, a veritable paradise on earth.

    It would be nearly 400 years after Alexander’s death that a small Jewish man by the name of Paul, a convert to Christianity, would write to his dear friend, a son in the faith, and a young pastor named Timothy. presently serving a congregation of God’s people in the city of Ephesus, the very city that embraced the cult of Diana. Paul tells Timothy his purpose for writing. towards the end of the third chapter in his first letter. Verse 14, he tells Timothy that his intention is to visit soon. However, he may be delayed.

    Therefore, he feels compelled to write so that Timothy might know how to conduct his affairs in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and mainstay of the truth.” Now, certainly Paul’s statement is meant to be something of a put-down for Timothy. After all, we would fully expect Timothy, would we not be well acquainted and well instructed already in the proper ordering of the affairs of the church. But it seems that with this statement.

    Paul is calling attention to the fact that Timothy and his ministry stand in jeopardy. And the apostle’s letter now, in part, is intended to pull Timothy, the young pastor, back on track. But note Paul’s message. He is subtly critical of Timothy, but yet he lays his criticism within a statement that has a definite positive ring. In fact, so positive is Paul’s message that its sheer glory will literally overwhelm Timothy.

    And beyond Timothy, those to whom Timothy ministers For surely this letter will not only be read by Timothy, but it will be read to all who are a part of that assembly in Ephesus. But consider this assembly. Consider this church in Ephesus. For instance, in light of the temple to Diana, beyond the edge of the city itself, the saints at Ephesus are gathering in the shadow of that astonishing house of the goddess.

    It is a house made of the things of this world. It is a house made of wood, stone, and mortar. It is very cleverly and artistically decorated, elaborately designed. But the Apostle, you see, speaks of the house of God, which well might be put in contrast to the house of Diana.

    And when he speaks of the house of God, he means the people of God, who can hardly claim such an impressive structure as the cult of Diana. Think of where these Christians might meet. Do you think they had a structure to gather in that in any sense approached the grandeur of that temple beyond the edge of the city. Could it be that these saints actually gathered in a poor dwelling, one that was unadorned, one that was simple and even common?

    Paul speaks about the house of God, but you must now realize what the Apostle is doing as he uses such language. By that language, he is not speaking about a structure made of wood, stone, and mortar, elaborately designed and decorated. He is speaking about the people themselves. Paul’s interest is in the people, not the structure in which those people gather. And by calling those people the house of God, he is calling attention to a glory that is theirs far exceeding that of all the world’s wonders combined. This man is thinking and speaking on a different level.

    Now, every stroke of his pen will insist upon this very glory for the saints. They are the assembly,” he goes on to say. They are the assembly that is the Church. Did you know that that’s what the word Church means? The word Church does not mean the structure. It does not mean the building. The word Church means assembly.

    These are the assembly of the living God, he says. In the temple beyond the edge of the city, an assembly is gathering to honor a lifeless image to a nonexistent deity. And although there were many in that assembly gathered from the world over who gave testimony to all that that goddess had done for them in their lives, testimonies run rampant in paganism.

    Even though there were those gathered there who gave testimony to all that this goddess had done for them, this goddess has no life in herself. She can’t speak, she can’t move. She cannot act on anyone’s behalf, regardless of what is claimed for her. Neither life nor love are within her control in any sense whatsoever.

    But the true and living God That’s Paul’s word, the living God. The true and living God has acted in creating the world. He’s even created the wood stone that makes up the temple out of which now Diana’s sanctuary is constructed. He has even created the stuff out of which her idol has been constructed. This true and living God has acted in creating the world.

    He has also acted in saving Noah, calling Abraham, rescuing Israel from Egypt, establishing David, returning Israel to the land, and in sending his own dear son to die for sinners. among whom Paul identifies himself to be the chief, and in raising up his son from the dead on the third day, in order that sinners such as Paul might have eternal life. Diana’s temple boasts of 120 pillars, well anchored so as to reinforce her claims to the truth. But here in the house of God, the assembly of the living God, we witness the genuine pillar and mainstay of the truth.

    That which has all the outward splendor and visible glory is of no account to the apostle, while that which appears so mundane, so simple, so unadorned, is of great value. and the Church at Ephesus may feel inferior while living in the shade of Diana’s domain. They may even be tempted to move in a direction that they want not to move, just for the purpose of laying claim to a greater piece of outward glory. But Paul draws out before them their excellence, an excellence that is hidden, subdued, understated, and even dismissible as far as the world of Diana worshipers are concerned. But we must not think that this excellence of which Paul speaks is discerned mainly or even chiefly by contrast to pagan worship.

    You see, much more pressing for the church is the temptation to pursue the very spirit that would seduce us with pagan temples, but comes at us in the guise of biblical religion with the defense of God’s law. Much more pressing For the Church is the temptation of that spirit that would seduce us with pagan temples, to be sure, but comes at us in the guise of biblical religion and with the sanction of biblical law. Satan knows so well we may have sent enough to turn from idols and from their shrines. But can we resist an appeal that is clothed with the name of Jehovah, his temple, and his commandments?

    This is precisely the difficulty that Timothy is facing. Yes, the shrine to Diana is a threat, but there are those who are coming at him from an entirely different direction. Yet Paul would have him know that though they are coming at him from an entirely different direction, that they are imbibing of the same spirit that is responsible for that shrine to Diana.

    It can be said that Paul’s language here in the 15th verse of 1 Timothy 3 may have a target in Diana’s temple, but it is language lifted out of the Old Testament, language that described Solomon’s temple. The Church since Timothy’s day has self-righteously declared herself by idolatry, but sought at the same time to defend her lavish, expensive, and expansive structures by an appeal to Solomon’s temper. In fact, many a building campaign has been justified by an appeal to Solomon’s grand building enterprise sanctified by an appeal to God’s law and the commandments that rise out of the Old Testament.

    But you note once more now that Paul in his remarks, makes no reference to the structure in which the Church gathers in Ephesus. Actually, he takes his language from 1 Kings chapter 8, which we read this morning. All of the references that we find now Paul’s statement in that 15th verse of 1 Timothy 3 are lifted in some way or other out of 1 Kings 8. So Paul takes the language pertaining to Solomon’s temple, and now he applies it to the church in Ephesus.

    He takes language that is meant to refer to a building, and he applies it to the people. The house of God is not a building, any building, be it pagan or Hebrew, be it even the temple in Jerusalem, much less this place. Instead, the house of God is now defined as the people of God. that is, the Church of the Living God, which is now comprised of Jews, yes, but also Gentiles who have welcomed the Lord’s Messiah and the Lord’s Christ. This, then, in the assembly, in the congregation of the people, is where God, the Living God, now resides, where he dwells.

    But you must be impressed with how Paul now stretches the language that he lifts out of 1 Kings 8. So intimate is the bond that exists between God and his people, that not only are God’s people his house, but they are perfectly equated with the glory cloud that appeared on that day when the temple of Solomon was dedicated. You remember, the priests had to retreat. They couldn’t even stay in the house because of the cloud. Now Paul uses pillar language.

    He says that this assembly is the pillar of truth, and he identifies the church as the pillar cloud. of it. That pillar of cloud was the glory of God, and now the people of God are being described as His glory. Even further, they are the pillar of truth. They are the pillar of God’s faithfulness and a memorial to the fact that he has kept his promise. Solomon makes a point of making mention of the promise that God had given to David. God has kept all of his promises.

    We have been taken up into the cloud of His presence then, and we are bound to our God in our identity as the people of God. We are His glory, and He has made us to be such by the work and ministry of His Son, application of that work to us by his Holy Spirit. We are the mainstay. Not just the ground or the foundation or the support, as some translations have it, that we are the mainstay of this truth, the memorial to this truth. that is, an abiding testament to and a permanent fixture now in the world declaring his faithfulness. Here in us, God is pleased to establish a memorial for himself in the world.”

    Timothy, in hearing these words, is most certainly overwhelmed. with the superlative excellence of the church. Those people, in fact, who are gathered with him in the city of. The church has an excellence that cannot be superseded by the site that reach any pagan widening up the Kayser River as Diana’s temple and offices come into view. But the church has an excellent even a greater excellence that cannot be superseded by the site that reach any Jew climbing from the Jordan Valley to the Mount of Olives there to behold Solomon’s Temple in the city of Jerusalem. No, as Jesus once said, something greater than Solomon. Now, such a consideration as that forces a discipline upon Timothy and calls him back to the superlative glory of the Church that he serves.

    But think of yourself now. Does not such a consideration instruct you as to how you want to treat the Church, and how you want to conduct yourself in the Church, as part of the Church. For, after all, you are the house of God. are the assembly of the living God. You are the glory cloud and pillar of God’s presence. You are the mainstay, memorializing your God’s faithfulness in Jesus Christ, your Savior.

    Father, the sights of this world will blind us. But Lord, make us blind to them, that we might see those things that are not seen, and wonder at the glory. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, by the work of the Spirit in us, we have been made new, and we have been given new eyes so as to see the excellence, yes, of our God, but also of his church. We being that church. And all of this, O God, that your name may be praised and hallowed, and that we may be sanctified for service unto the end. Keep us, O God. May we bless you forever. Through Christ our Savior, 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.

  • In Defense of the Pastoral Letters

    In Defense of the Pastoral Letters

    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, September 4, 1994.

    About this sermon

    Theological liberals have long disdained the pastoral epistles, and even the orthodox have defended them weakly, with Machen and Meredith Kline as notable exceptions. 1 Timothy 3 shows why that neglect is a mistake. The plain exhortation is to read these letters.

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    Sermon transcript

    This morning we are turning to Paul’s first letter to Timothy, and we are reading chapter three. This is 1 Timothy chapter three. Now give your attention to God’s inspired and infallible word. This is a true saying. If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth the good work.

    A bishop, then, must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, given to hospitality, apt to teach. Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy as filthy lucre, a patient, not a brawler, not covetous, one that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity. For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God? Not a novice, lest, being lifted up with pride, he fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover, he must have a good report of them which are without, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.

    Likewise, must the deacons be brave, not double-tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre, holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience. Let these also first be proved, then let them use the office of a deacon being found blameless. Even so, must their wives be brave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things. Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well. For they that have used the office of a deacon well purchase to themselves a good degree of great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus.

    These things write I unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly. But if I carry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. Without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of the angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory. Strike us down, O God, if we would fail in our attentiveness to your word. And lay us low, O God, if in our pride we are an offense to you. heal our souls as your spirit with the word works in us. We pray these things in Jesus’ name. Amen.

    Now I have in mind a couple of messages on the last verses of this third chapter in 1 Timothy, furthering our series that we have been pursuing now for some time to the theme of the doctrine of the Church. But this morning, my intention is to be a bit more general, and to provide some orientation for us as we look at the pastoral epistles.

    Now, Paul’s pastoral letters are in need of a general retrieval and a deeper study by the Church of Jesus Christ Now, if you are confused as to what the pastorals are, let me identify them to you. They are the letters that Paul writes to pastors, specifically Timothy and Titus. He writes two to Timothy, he writes another to Titus. These letters were written by Paul after his first Roman imprisonment in the early A.D. You will recall that Paul had been taken to Rome. The account of that is found in the latter chapters of the Book of Acts, and while at Rome he had written a number of letters. Those which we possess in the New Testament have been identified as the prison epistles, specifically Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon. Those are letters from the first imprisonment of Paul.

    But Paul was released from prison and spent at least two more years in ministry to the churches in Europe and Asia. And it was during this period, leading up then to his rearrest and his death, it was in this period that Paul writes the so-called pastoral letters to Timothy and to Titus.

    Now, I say that these letters are in need of a general retrieval and a deeper study by the Church of Christ because, for one thing, they have been beaten into the backwater of the Church’s consciousness by the liberal assault that began almost two hundred years ago. The liberals were not particularly partial. to the pastorals, they seemed to attack everything in sight. But there was a specific focus for them as they approached the pastoral letters of Paul. For instance, I have in my library a book that is the fruit of the liberal assault upon the writings of Paul. It is a book that deals with Paul’s theology.

    But interestingly, that book religiously avoids any reference to the pastoral letters. Why? Because the liberals are convinced that Paul didn’t write them. Paul did not write 1st and 2nd Timothy or Titus, so say the liberals. This particular liberal denies Pauline authorship. He does that in the face of the fact that the Church has uniformly recognized Paul to be the author of these letters, and that for over 1800 years.

    Now, the charge that the liberals lay out is this. The writer of these letters, in their judgment, is much too formal. He is much too rigid when it comes to the structure and the offices of the Church. They say, this writer’s doctrine has arrived at a much too precise, settled, and formulated stake.

    He can actually encapsulated in faithful sayings. You find a number of those faithful sayings throughout the pastoral letters. He can encapsulate it in compact confessions, such as we find in the 16th verse of that third chapter in 1 Timothy. at least the Paul that we embrace, is the apostle of the Spirit. He is not the apostle of precise, settled, formulated statements. He is not the apostle of structure and office. He is the apostle of the Spirit. He is the apostle of spontaneity. He is the apostle of liberty.

    Our Paul wrote Galatians, and set before the Church its message of personal faith and freedom from restraint and law and commandment. Our Paul wrote the Corinthian correspondence, writings that exhale the free exhilarating air of charismatic endowment. gifts.

    But the pastoralists, so say the liberals, are hemmed in by order and restrictiveness. Such order and restrictiveness that binds the Holy Spirit now specifically to office, of all things, and to doctrine carefully worded. Gone then from the pastorals is the spacious and personal and practical proclamation of Paul’s message of personal faith, vital faith. And in its place now, here in the pastorals, there appears Instead, a definition of faith that is unacceptable to us. For here, it seems as if faith means adherence to an institutionalized set of dogma.

    Obviously then, the pastoral letters were not written by Paul. The best we can do is to say that they were written by some admirer of Paul, later on a disciple, but one who never quite captured the Apostle’s spark, and one who represented the Church’s decline into a cold and moribund rigidity. Now, the response of orthodox and conservative Protestantism to this liberal assault and denial has been steady and consistent, but the focus of even this response has been, by and large, disappointing. The interest has been, rightly, a defense of Paul’s authorship of these letters, but at the same time, even among the Orthodox and the Conservatives, there has been a near exclusion of any deepening appreciation of Paul’s specific orientation in these letters. where interest has been paid to the message of the pastorals, the approach has been rather piquant.

    For example, pastorals have been scoured by Orthodox, Evangelical, and Conservative Protestants in the interests of the subject of church government. as those involved in this enterprise have been concerned to find proof texts upon which they can hang their particular version of church government. Now, it’s not as if we can’t find out important things about church government from the pastoral epistles. But by merely concentrating on that, Are we overlooking even deeper matters? Conservatives have looked at the pastorals further because they have found in them a defense for the doctrine of biblical inspiration.

    I suppose at some time in our lives we all have memorized 2 Timothy 3.16. A text that comes to us, then, out of the pastorals.

    But even more than that, the pastorals have been looked upon as useful by conservatives because of what they have to say about apostolic authority. Beyond this, the pastorals have been judged to be very practical, in that they serve up worthy advice to preachers and ministers of the gospel. But it is precisely this practical interest that brings to attention just how limited the pastorals are in their appeal. They are written to pastors, and therefore, by and large, they have been judged to be of little importance to the man and the woman in the pew. They are appropriate at ordination services, to cite, to preach on. but little else.

    Something of a testimony to this attitude among the Orthodox and conservative Protestants is found in the fact that the pastoral letters have not been generally the New Testament books of choice when those conservatives have sat down to write biblical commentaries. They simply are not. good, substantial, weighty commentaries on the pastoralists, given to us out of the orthodox and conservative world over the last 200 years.

    But if there has been a failure in the conservative response now to the liberal attack and denial One reason for this, as sad as it is for me to say, has been the mood, the very subjective mood that has settled over the Church of our time. It is almost as if conservatives, while disagreeing with liberals about a number of particulars, like the authorship of the pastoralists, have nevertheless agreed with the liberals as far as the general mood of things is concerned. If the pastoral smack too much of objective truth, of historical objectivity, of the verifiable witness to the events of the gospel, to a genuine ecclesiology and to doctrinal orthodoxy, and not enough of personal, subjective, and somewhat mystical and undefinable character of religious experience than the worst to the pastoral.

    Dismiss that. You see, conservatives have been just as responsible as liberals for the incessant clamor of our time. demanding the eminently and intimately personal and practical side of religious life, even to the point of clouding, if not eclipsing, the historical factuality and objective finality of God’s mighty acts, which make up the Bible’s central concern. That incessant clamor is also doing damage to our appreciation of the Church. For because of it, we are likely to disregard the substantive, historical, corporate, and organized objective reality that is found in the Church. Say this enough. My story saves nobody. And everybody has a story. Even Muslims and Buddhists. It is only the story of Jesus Christ that saves. Now, telling you my story may be a help to you. It may be an encouragement. But it isn’t the gospel.

    What is happening, tragically, is that the subjective, personal side of our religious experience is likely to eclipse the historical objective reality that is found in the Gospel and with the Church of Jesus Christ. Now, there was one man who stood consciously against the modern consensus and the rise of the subjective in appropriating the message of the word. And that man was J. Gresham Meacham, a man who had a lot to do with the organization of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church in 1936.

    Now, Machen applied himself without hesitation and without embarrassment, even to the question of the pastoral’s perceived irrelevance. His comments opened a door for the pastoral’s retrieval and for a greater insight into their message. About the pastoral, Machen said this, they may be regarded as marking the beginning of the second stage in the life of the Church. The age of origination, the gospel events, the apostolic witness, the age of origination was nearly over, and the age of conservation had begun.

    The Church must now be looked upon as an established institution. You cannot avoid it.” That’s editorial comment. You cannot avoid it. I know the pressures that are on you, away from the institutional church, away from the form and the order and the structure of the institutional church. If you want to have a vital Christianity, you have to let the church go. That’s baloney! Now, I can say it’s strider, but I’ll spare you. The Church must now be looked upon as an established institution. In dealing with Jesus Christ, you’re not going to be able to avoid the question of the established institutional Church, and remain faithful to Him.

    Nation goes on, great principles were needed for the Church’s guidance, principles which should serve not only for special circumstances, as in some of the other epistles, but for all generations. Say, the Apostles have been just jacked up a few notches with respect to their importance.

    Now, according to Machen, the uniqueness of the pastels, then, is traced to the fact that Paul is dying. The apostle is going to die. He’s not going to be there anymore, and that’s going to create a new circumstance in the Church and for the Church. So these are not just more letters from Paul, they are his last letters. Think of it. These are his last communications. They serve as something of a last will and testament from the man. And you can think of other last will and testament from biblical figures.

    Jacob, the latter chapters of Genesis, speaking to his son. Moses on the plains of Moab, speaking to the children of Israel before they enter into the land, the entirety of the book of Deuteronomy. David to his son, speaking to Solomon about what he can expect and what he is to do. And Jesus himself to his disciples. on the eve of his crucifixion.

    Now, in conformity to that pattern, here we have Paul, as it were, delivering his last will and testament, his last words. These letters are of supreme importance, for they are transitional documents. As the time of the apostles comes to a close, and the post-apostolic period commences. They are letters of such weightiness for the whole of Christ’s Church, because what the Apostle writes in them is now of first importance to him as his life closes. in reading and in understanding the Apostle, we might even do well to start with the pastoralist and then work back to Romans, Corinthians, Galatians, etc. But it’s helpful and suggestive as Nathan’s remarks were, and continue to be, for the retrieving and deepening of our appreciation of the pastoralists. It has been the work of another that has provided a powerful analysis of the Bible’s structure in its entirety, into which now the pastoralists so beautifully fit. And I have in mind Meredith G. Klein. Now, Klein is an Old Testament scholar, not a New Testament scholar, as Nietzsche writes. But what Klein does is he observes the flow of Old Testament history. He marks it out in a threefold pattern.

    First, the foundational narrative at the center of which is the record of God’s great work of salvation in the Old Testament, specifically the Exodus from Egypt. Secondly, a period of extraordinary charismatic endowment, of extraordinary charismatic gifts, in which there is the Holy Spirit’s direct interaction with persons most useful for the progress and growth of God’s covenant community.

    The second period corresponds to the time running from Joshua through the judges, especially, through the judges to the days of Saul. And this brings us to the third and final period. The period of extraordinary charismatic endowment ends and the time of settlement and permanence begins in which God’s people are now ruled generally by their reflection upon what God has done and said previously and according to the wisdom that is appropriate for a right understanding of those wonderful truths. This is the period of the kingdom in the Old Testament and its establishment. It is the period of the moving of the Ark and the building of the Temple. It is the era that we observe specifically under the administrations of David and Solomon.

    But now, interestingly, Klein goes on. we observe the same pattern in the New Testament. First, the foundational narrative of God’s great work of salvation in the Gospels, and this time, of course, dealing with the advent, the life, the death, the resurrection, and ascension of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. But secondly, there comes the period of extraordinary charismatic endowment. in the apostolic period with its signs and wonders, its miracles, its gifts of tongues and prophecies. Here we have in view the Book of the Acts and a great number of the New Testament letters that are given to us. But finally, even beyond this, we have the establishment of the Church and the cessation of the signs and wonders as the apostolic period comes to an end.

    And this period is itself reflected within the pastorals, and also in other New Testament writings, such as the Epistle to the Hebrews. It is a period in which the Church and its structure, its offices, and its exact doctrine are coming into precise focus. It is a time in which, in the words of Paul to Timothy, we ought to know, we all ought how we are to behave ourselves in the house of God, the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. 1 Timothy 3. And it is a time in which the content of the great mystery of godliness is not thrown into the realm of undefinable feelings, but clearly articulated in our common confession. 1 Timothy 3.

    And by common confession, great is the mystery of godliness. He who was revealed in the flesh was justified in the spirit, beheld by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up into glory.” Now, all of this is to say that the pastorals are of supreme importance to us and of great benefit, and are a further testimony to us about the sufficiency of Scripture.

    Indeed, our New Testaments include us. We are in them. And that not just in the general sense, that we belong to the same age in which the New Testament was written, the age that commences with Christ’s coming and will be consummated at His return. But in a most specific sense, we live in a post-apostolic period. And these epistles, as Paul envisions that period, speak specifically to us. We then live after Jesus’ redemptive ministry. We live after the Holy Spirit’s descent at Pentecost. We live after the times, the time of signs and wonders and miraculous events in the history of the Church. We live in the time of the Church’s establishment, and these letters are particularly addressed to us. They are very pointedly addressed to us.

    In this time, each of us is called As Paul called Timothy, in the last chapter of his first letter to him, to fight the good fight. And that fight will cause us to stand against the ravages of the assault and denial of the liberals. But that fight will also call upon us to stand upon the rampant subjectivism and sentimentality that has now overrun Christian conscience. Fight the good fight.

    And if I were to define it even further, it would mean that you and I are to be found enveloped in the mystery of godliness spoken of by Paul at the end of that third chapter. The content of that mystery being nothing else than Jesus Christ himself, with his humiliation and his exaltation becoming our very life. What subjectivity we embrace and long for is that which expresses itself in terms of conformity to our Lord, so that even our lives begin to look like His. All of this is right at the center of what the pastorals are about. So read them again to your Father. Let’s pray. Later, in Paul’s testimony to Timothy, he will speak about his trial. And how none stood with him. In his hour of interrogation. How deserted of all of his friends. He was compelled then to confess the good confession alone. And thus face his death. in the certain hope of the resurrection and its reward.

    And as we read that account, O God, we realize that Paul, in his subjectivity, is actually giving way to his Lord, and seeing the very patterns of his Savior, and his Savior’s demise, death, and resurrection. being expressed in him. O God, this is not a pattern which the apostle will lay out merely for pastors. It is a pattern that is laid out for all of God’s children. All, in fact, who would name the name of Jesus. Help us, Lord, to fight the good fight. And may we stand against the drift of our time in order to be secure in the certainties of your word. We ask it in Jesus name.

    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.

  • A Unity Built on Grace Alone

    A Unity Built on Grace Alone

    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, July 10, 1994.

    About this sermon

    Ephesians grounds the church’s unity entirely in grace and in the finality of Christ’s finished work, apart from shared preference or personality. Ephesians 2, dead in sin and alive in Christ, lays that ground. Several common but weaker accounts of church unity fall short of it.

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    Sermon transcript

    This morning we turn to Ephesians chapter 1, and we begin reading at verse 15. This is Ephesians chapter 1, and we are starting at verse 15. I’ll give you attention to the reading of God’s word. Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that ye may know what is the hope of his calling and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints.

    What is the exceeding greatness of his power to us were to believe, according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come. And it put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the Church, which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all. And you, happy quiffins, who were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience, among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. But God, who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he hath loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, by grace ye are saved, and hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.

    For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, but it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. Wherefore remember that ye being in times past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hands, that at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world, but now in Christ Jesus Ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ, for he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us, having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law, commandments contained in ordinances, for to make in himself uptwain one new man, so making peace, and that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby, and came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were not.”

    Let’s pray together. Father, you, by drawing us to yourself, have extended our vision where we may have been the center of our worlds prior to coming to you. You now, O God, have set yourself in the center of that world, and you have made us aware of others, yes, even those whom you have called and will call to yourself. And we ask, Lord, that your blessing might richly abide with those who proclaim your word today in places around this world, that there may be a rich harvest for your church, and that your people may see this harvest and rejoice.

    We ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen. be predestined, even though they don’t believe in predestination? Well, of course. Of course they can. Just because someone doesn’t believe in God’s predestination doesn’t mean that they aren’t predestined. of this fact that I have always thought that the advantage goes to a Calvinist in a debate upon the subject of predestination. The truth, after all, is better than we are. The truth is better than we are. And often an individual is saved who fails to grasp the full range of biblical truth.

    But by the same token, can I be part of the universal Church of Christ and fail to realize the profound nature of the Church’s unity? and even exhibit an attitude and be guilty of actions that attack or stand diametrically opposed to that unity. Paul preaches God’s predestination to some who personally question it. Paul also proclaims the Church’s unity to many who are oblivious to it. He declares the Church’s unity to many who have even been guilty of abusing that unity. Nor does the reality of what the Apostle declares depend upon the belief or the behavior of those to whom he declares it.

    More specifically, there is a unity that belongs to the Church of Jesus Christ that lies beyond my ability to create it or maintain it. That is, such is the unity of the Church that in the most basic sense, it is a given. Such is the unity of the Church that in the most basic sense, it is a given. It is a true gift of grace. This means then that there is that sense in which we do not wait for it to arrive, to come, to be achieved. There is that sense in which Church unity is not an expectation or even a hope. It is not something for which we labor nor for which we struggle.

    Rather, it is a present, gracious reality that even here, in our consideration of it, sets before us the magnificence of Jesus Christ and his gospel. But just how magnificent is Jesus Christ and his gospel in this regard? as they pertain to this matter of Church unity.

    There is a completeness in Him. There is a completeness in Him. there is a finality that virtually leaves nothing further to be done, nothing further to be accomplished. Something of this absolute completiveness and finality is heard in Christ’s very own words from the cross. know the ones that I mean, those found in John chapter 19 verse 30, when Jesus cries out, it is finished. Jesus means, quite specifically by these words, that his work in the world is done. But at the same time, there is a note heard in these words. of absolute finality, not just with respect to his work in the world, but his work, period, regardless of which world may be in view. As if everything that he has to do, whether in this world or the next, has been accomplished, Now, it is this sense of things that Paul picks up on in those very powerful words in Galatians chapter 4, verse 4. But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, that he might redeem those who were under the law.” The words there, with this power, are the opening words of that statement.

    But when the fullness of time had come, Now, Paul’s words here about the fullness of time have nothing to do with the oft-repeated but mistaken notion that the time was right, that the conditions in Israel and in the world were right for the Messiah’s appearance. No, that’s not Paul’s meaning at all when he speaks about the fullness of time having arrived. Rather, he is concerned to say that the time has actually reached an end point in the appearance of Jesus Christ in the world. Time itself has reached its goal, and in a true sense, the conclusion of time has been accomplished in Christ’s accomplishment of his mission. This means then, according to Paul’s understanding of things, that history itself has come to a conclusion, has come to an end, its purpose having been realized in the appearance of Jesus Christ. There is nothing further to do and to accomplish.

    Now I ask you to carry that perspective, that you glean from Christ’s words from the cross, and also from Paul’s words in Galatians chapter 4, with you into your consideration of Ephesians, Ephesians 1 and 2. Paul here, at the outset of his epistle sees Christ not in process, but in terms of the completedness of his work. This comes out very clearly at the conclusion of Ephesians 1. You will note here that Paul’s references at the conclusion of this chapter have in mind that which is already accomplished, that which is already done. Jesus Christ, therefore, is not in the process of putting down all rule and authority, but has already been exalted far above them, verse 21 at the end of that first chapter. Now, I want you to appreciate what is being said here by the Apostle by contrasting it with what you find in 1 Corinthians 15, verses 23 through 28. In those verses set in front of us are statements with regard to the process by which Christ shall bring all rule and authority under him. and bring everything in subjection to him under his feet.

    But here in Ephesians, the statement is with regard to that which is already accomplished as if there’s nothing left to do. Nothing remains. Nothing is unfinished. There are no loose ends to be tied up. God then, with respect to his work in Christ, is not putting all things in projection under Christ’s feet, at least as far as the perspective of Ephesians is concerned, and that, it seems, is over against the perspective of 1 Corinthians 15. Rather, this is something that has already been done. Verse 22 of that first chapter in Ephesians. This means, then, that Jesus Christ is not somehow becoming the head over all things to the Church. He is the head established. It is accomplished. There is a finality to it.

    This accomplished quality, then, with respect to these things according to the Apostle, is as settled as Christ’s death, resurrection, and ascension, and as much constitutive of his gospel as those great central events. But the amazing thing now is The fact that the Apostle declares to us that we share in the settledness, the completedness, the finality, the accomplished quality of all of these things that he has been speaking of with respect to his Lord.

    Look at the opening of the second chapter, and let the testimony there with respect to the settledness of the matter as concerns ourselves settle in upon you. There is even the settledness here about the sentence of death. that has come upon us because of our transgressions and our sins. And you were dead in your trespasses and sins. Join that with what you find in verse 3, that we all are the children of wrath, as if the irrevocable character of that wrath sets it before us as an already accomplished fact. It is so settled a matter that there is no possibility of escape from it.

    Now, I would judge that death speaks to us about finality. That is what the Apostle is endeavoring now to communicate to his hearers. Yes, he speaks at the end of Ephesians 1 with regard to the finality of Christ, But he is also speaking now, as he moves into the second chapter, about a finality that pertains to us, and that finality is one of death. We are dead. There’s no way back. It’s impossible for us to come back. There is no remedy for our circumstance and situation.

    And we are under God’s wrath, as if that wrath were an accomplished act with regard to us already. We are experiencing it presently. Now, what the apostle has done here is he sets you squarely before an impossible situation. The situation is one of death already accomplished. It’s true with regard to you. You are a child of wrath. That is your inheritance. and it is impossible for you to escape.

    Do you now understand the flow and the power of what the Apostle is endeavoring to communicate to these Ephesians? God does the impossible, and he undoes what has already been done. and that through the interposition of his son. We were dead, and there was no possibility for our rescue. There was no possibility for us coming alive again. But now, because of God’s love and power, we are alive.

    Understand the weight, the force of the Apostle’s statement. He is not here talking about other people besides you. He is speaking with respect to you, to all of you. You must understand that and grasp it. Your condition is as he has described it here. You must identify with what he is saying.

    If you don’t identify with what he is saying here, when he is speaking about you being dead and being the children of wrath, you can have no part in his gospel. It’s not just a matter of the preacher being paid to get excited, or even to become agitated about these matters. It is a question concerning your eternal destiny. Do you actually think of yourself as having been dead, without Christ? As having been a child of wrath, worthy of his condemnation? Is that a thought that enters your head? Is that something you think about?

    If you don’t, you can’t appreciate grace. There is no way for you to appreciate God’s love. Because in the end, you are saying, in one way or another, I am as worthy as anyone else to receive God’s attention. we were dead. There was no hope. There was no possibility of redemption. But now, because of the love and power of God, we are alive.

    Verse 5 of Ephesians 2. And talk about finality. The apostle then goes on to tell you that your resurrection has been accomplished, for you have been raised up with Christ, and you have ascended with Christ, so as now to enjoy the blessings that are in the heavenly places.” Verse 6. Truly, then, you by grace have been saved. It is the specific quality of biblical faith that both realizes and grasps hold of this. It is the specific quality of biblical faith that both realizes this and grasps hold of it. But no further, as far as the Apostle is concerned, there is nothing exclusively personal about what he has to say on these subjects.

    For you see, the Church as a whole shares in the finality found in Christ. The Church, then, is not becoming the fullness of Him who fills all and all. The Church is not becoming the fullness of Him that fills all and all, it already is such. The Church is not waiting for the arrival of its peace, its peace has arrived in Christ. That peace has been accomplished. The Church does not look for reconciliation even within its own membership. It is an already established reality, verse 16, even as Jews and Gentiles are brought together in Christ. The Church does not fall for the unity of the one new man, verse 15, or the body, the one body belonging to God, verse 16. That unity already is a reality for the Church because of the Church’s vital union to Christ and that vital union realized in Heaven. We, by grace through faith, live in the accomplishments, the finality, the completeness of Christ’s work.

    But it is precisely here, at the point of the completeness, the finality, the accomplishment of this unity in Christ, that the ecumenical commitments and efforts of the Church fail, and fail repeatedly. The liberals emphasized the prospect of union for all churches. all denominations, regardless of whatever strife or commitment or description. But they do so, you see, not ultimately in the interest of the Church, but in the interest of a unified humanity in which the distinction between the Church and the world is obliterate. The ecumenical vision of liberalism is therefore merely an extension of its religious commitment that belongs to a completely different order of religion than that of Christianity. We are not speaking about the same thing, even when we speak about the unity of the Church of Jesus Christ. There is, it seems, the supreme commitment with, and contentment with, what they call the visible symbol of unity in the earth, focusing on the Vatican and in the Pope.

    Thus, you see, faith is bypassed, for the focus, you see, is on what you can see, what is obvious to you. But the genuinely Reformed and Evangelical have also stumbled over the doctrine of the Church’s unity, and there may even be a short-sightedness in our own standards at this very point. For the tendency has been, when someone among us has been bitten by the ecumenical bug, to so concentrate upon the imperative for the Church for the Church’s union that any true sense of the already accomplished heavenly union of the Church in Christ is lost completely from view. As a result, the very things of which the Apostle is speaking here in Ephesians 1 and 2 are lost to us. The power, the grace, the completeness that is found in our Savior, the finality that is found in Him, these things are severely compromised and damaged so that we cannot proceed as we ought.

    We have no other place to stand but that which God has given us in Christ, even when it comes to this matter of Church unity. We have nowhere else to stand in the first place than in that completed, final accomplishment of Jesus Christ, realizing that there is nothing lacking in Him whatsoever, even with regard to these matters.

    We are part of the universal, yes, heavenly Church of Christ, but sadly we fail to realize the profound nature of the Church’s unity and even exhibit an attitude and are guilty of actions that attack that unity. But praise God that Christ is not diminished one wit, nor can he be diminished by our hard-headedness, our hard-heartedness, or our stupidity. Let us pray. Our God, the Church has spent much time in her discussions about unity, and even as we have seen as a consequence of the Reformation great division in the Church of Christ and the fragmentation in denominations, many of them here in our own country, we call out unto you that there may be, Lord, a commitment on our part to that which is set before us so unmistakably by Paul in the letter to the Ephesians. and that we would not lose our grip upon the completion of Christ’s work, its finality, and the fullness of it, even as we are made partakers of that fullness, there being nothing lacking in the fullness and the unity that belongs essentially to Him. With this Lord before us, with us understanding these things, We are in a position then, so as not to compromise your grace, your love, or your power, even when it comes to the matter of discussing the vital union between churches, how we might get together, how we might be brought together. For surely, Lord, there is that unity that is already accomplished in Jesus Christ, the Head and King of the Church.

    Help us, our Father, we ask. to keep these things in mind. 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.

  • Already at Peace, Still at War

    Already at Peace, Still at War

    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, July 3, 1994.

    About this sermon

    Ephesians 2 describes a peace between Jew and Gentile that is real and accomplished, even while Christians keep going to war with one another. The text names that gap between the already and the not yet plainly. Avoiding the war Paul warns against means living out the peace God has already given.

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    Sermon transcript

    This morning we are reading from Ephesians 2. We are beginning at verse 1. Give your attention to the reading of God’s holy word. who were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, a spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience, among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

    But God, who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ by grace ye are saved, and hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.

    For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. Wherefore, remember that ye, being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hands, that at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise having no hope and without God in the world. But now, in Christ Jesus, ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us, having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances. for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace, and that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby, and came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh.

    For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father, Now, therefore, ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God, and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom all the buildings fitly framed together groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord, in whom ye also are builted together for the inhabitation of God through the Spirit.

    Look upon all those, O Lord, who hear your word today. Graciously grant strength in that life conferred already in Jesus Christ to those who have believed. But be pleased, O Father, this day. to gather many of your elect, that your church already gathered might rejoice, and rejoice with those who rejoice in heaven. So bless your word here, Lord, that we in hearing may obey. And Father, may it please you, through such light as shines from us, to bring light then to this dark world. We ask it for Jesus’ sake, for the sake of that one who is himself the very life of the world. Amen.

    In the film Gettysburg, General Robert E. Lee is made to comment on the irony that the Fourth of July, marking the celebration of American independence, should lie so close to the July 3 battle in which the freedom of the southern states would be determined. But Lloyd certainly has a sense of humor,” General Lee said, at least in the film.

    But what we witnessed in the horror of that July 3rd charge by Pickett and others was anything but humorous. If the Lord was laughing, it must have been to have in derision those men who had been made to be such utter fools. We have been taught, have we not, or at least this is how we have seen things, that the Lord’s laughter is reserved for the raging heathen nations and their stubborn rulers, those who refused to submit to him and his sovereign lordship. But on July 3, 1863, undoubtedly his derisive laugh was directed against those who likely and from the Union alike, had the Lord’s name comfortably placed upon their tongues. Presbyterians, Methodists, Baptists, Episcopalians, Lutherans, slaughtering Presbyterians, Methodists, Baptist, Episcopalians, and Lutherans.

    Now, if it hadn’t all been in the interest of such a worthy cause, it wouldn’t have been enough to make atheists of us all. But all the worthy causes, but right after them, those who belong to the household of faith, in order to make war upon one another.

    The worthy cause presently drags after its Protestant and Catholic endowment in Ireland. The worthy cause drags after Orthodox Serb and Romanist Croats in Belgium. And what about the worthy cause in Rwanda? that small African nation that boasts a Christian population of 80 percent, and if we add the Seventh-day Adventists to that calculation, nearly 90 percent. But this nation now busying itself with a bloodbath that has claimed 500,000 lives, and displaced a million more.

    Now, the Christian Church can look out upon the world torn by hostility, brutalized by conflict, It can look out upon a world that even attacks the Church. But when that happens, the Church feels vindicated, justified, and genuine in its confession and in its offer of peace. Peace, says the Church boldly, is impossible without the Prince of Peace. It is possible, says the Church, only through the gospel of Jesus Christ.

    But what now, comes the question. What now, since the Church herself is torn apart by hostility, and internally scandalized by conflict that pits professing Christian against professing Christian. In fact, pitting those against one another who are of the very same denomination or from the same ecclesiastical background. How is the Church then able to hold her head up when those from her membership are at each other’s throats to such an extent that they are literally slitting one another’s throats.

    More specifically, and with regard to our passage this morning, especially the latter part of it, Ephesians 2, 11-22, How are we, the Church, able to claim for the Apostle Paul and for his gospel any credibility given what we have witnessed in the Church throughout her history and what we see presently taking place in many regions of the world through the Church?

    How do statements such as what we find in verse 14 there, play themselves out. Jesus Christ, he himself, is our peace. How does such a statement as this make any sense? How does talk about the one new man mentioned in verse 15 and all of the images of harmony that that brings to mind? have any meaning for us? And what about the reconciliation that is spoken of in verse 16, a reconciliation for those who are now brought together in one body to God? Nevertheless, we are absolutely committed, are we not, to the truthfulness of the Word of God and to the integrity of the Apostle Paul?

    This man is utterly serious. He is not dealing here with fabrications. He is not dabbling in fictions. He is thoroughly genuine in what he has to say to the Church. And isn’t it interesting that the statement that we find here is in the context of an epistle that is his most general statement? The specifics that we find in other of his epistles are not found here in the epistle to the Ephesians. There’s no personal greeting. You might think that’s strange since Paul spent three years in Ephesus. That means then that the generality and the universality of this epistle is deliberate on Paul’s part.

    Yes, he is absolutely serious and thoroughly, completely genuine in what he has to say about the peace that is a reality in Christ, about the one new man, about the reconciliation that has taken place. But how in the world are we to understand this man? in light of the particulars that we have mentioned already this morning. And the way in which it seems that Christian saints, so wonderfully exemplary in other regards, simply stumble. and that tragically 53,000 died against them if you were a mother think of your boy And we weren’t out there slaying Caesar. We were cutting down fellow Presbyterians. Now, in order to get at the Apostles meeting a bit better, I hope it is obvious to all of us this morning that we cannot shift Paul’s meaning for peace off into the realm of personal tranquility and psychological serenity.

    The Apostle here is talking about something that is essentially external and eminently social in its character. He is speaking about the removal of a dividing wall, a barrier between peoples. Here’s the Apostle’s sociology. He is speaking about the removal of a dividing wall, a barrier between peoples. That barrier being between Gentiles and Jews, verse 14.

    He is talking about something here that takes form and shape in the Church, which stands centrally to his concern in this epistle as a whole. Something that takes then concrete form in the world, something you can see, something that is visible, a visible assembly, something that Paul calls God’s household in verse 19. Brought together out of the flesh and blood tribes of Israel and out of the flesh and blood tribes of the nation.

    There is nothing here, then, of a privatized mysticism. There is nothing here of a vision for religion that is content merely with contemplation and meditation. There is nothing here of a vision of religion for which the existence of anyone else except the self and God However he may be personally conceived, it’s utterly unnecessary.

    So we are clear, are we not, at least on this point, that what the apostle has in mind is something that has concrete form in the world. You can see it. It is visible. But neither is the Apostle a social philosopher in the classic sense of that word, as if his real objective were to present a vision for humanity that was always within man’s reach, if he would but grasp it. Isn’t that the try and true principle of social theory?

    The Apostle Paul is not a social philosopher. He is not here presenting a vision for humanity that was always within man’s reach if he would but grasp it. a vision for society that actually leaves no excuse to Gentiles and Jews for ever being separated in the first place. In other words, Paul is not saying that if Gentiles and Jews understood their true and common humanity, there would have never been any division between them at all. It is not, therefore, a failure of their native ability that separates Jews from Gentiles. The Apostle understands that what separated Jews from Gentiles was a concrete act by God in history.

    That conceived and born of grace. Israel had been separated from the nations by God’s election, and that inexplicable in and of itself, except we find the reason for it in God himself. Israel was separated from the nations by God’s election, sealed by circumcision and Old Testament sacrament and religious right, in which the Gentiles had no part. They were excluded. By divine act, the Gentiles were originally separated even from the expectation of Christ. By divine decree, they were alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, they were made strangers to the covenants of promise, they had no hope, and were without God in the world.”

    As it was by God’s own gracious action that the Jews was separated from the Gentiles originally, it is not by God’s own gracious action in Christ that the Gentiles and Jews are brought together. Particularly in view is Christ’s cross, Christ’s shed blood for sinners, Jewish sinners, Gentile sinners. This being God’s means not merely of reconciling peoples to himself, but also to one another. If there had been, by necessity, a dividing wall between Jew and Gentile, even in the Old Testament sanctuary in Jerusalem, that wall has been removed in the crucified flesh of Christ.

    And a new situation now pertains. Something new has taken place. Something new has come. that has never existed before. Gentiles gathered with Jews to be the people of God. They together granted a common inheritance in glory.” Note finally that Paul is not, by these words, shuffling off what he speaks of here to a nebulous future, as if in his optimism he cannot help but think about these things as an already present reality. who, in looking at the incongruity between the world and what they read here in Ephesians 2, have concluded that the only way in which we can make sense of what the Apostle says is to reserve everything that is spoken of here for the future. Yes, there will be this reconciliation, there will be this reunion, there will be this commonality, this harmony, this peace. The Paul’s message here is not with regard to prospect, it is with regard to reality and that which has transpired already. The reconciliation of which he speaks, the peace of which he speaks, the tearing down of the metal wall of partition has been accomplished.

    Not to say that there is not process in view or at work. by which Jews and Gentiles are being incorporated into God’s dwelling in the Spirit, in which there isn’t growth. Of course there is growth. Of course there is this incorporation. Of course there is this progress. And it is alluded to also in Ephesians 4, where Paul speaks about the Church growing up into full maturity, into Christ himself. By all means, then, there is growth and maturing, a maturation that is taking place.

    But still, according to what the Apostle Paul is setting down, we are not waiting for the peace to arrive, for it is presently asserting itself. Now, your vision may become clouded. And your faith at this point may begin to falter. But I plead with you that you fear the Apostle Paul for all your worth. He is not waiting for the peace to arrive.

    It is presently asserting itself. And it is precisely because it has arrived and it is asserting itself that this piece and everything that belongs to it becomes a discipline for us. This is what is made clear also by the fourth chapter of Ephesians.

    Yes, as Ephesians 2 tells us, we are the new man in Christ, but that does not mean that we don’t have to put on the new man, as Ephesians 4.24 tells us. And to be continually dressing ourselves up in that new humanity which is ours in Christ. to be sure, as Ephesians 2 tells us, Christ is our peace. That is accomplished. Do you not understand? If we take that away, then grace falls. Salvation is lost. There’s nothing left.

    Yes, Christ is our peace. Reconciliation has come, but we dare not ignore then what the Apostle says to us at the end of the fourth chapter of Ephesians, which is the working out of that reconciliation and the demonstration of that peace for us in our assemblies and in our lives. Let all bitterness,” writes the Apostle, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and slander, be put away from you, along with all balance, and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.” For you to respond to that statement Christ must be our peace, our reconciliation. There must be that harmony that is found in him from which you live, out of which you converse. otherwise you are thrown back completely into a works religion.

    The Apostle sees it all in his time, he knows the conflicts that will arise. He’s no fool. And yet he speaks here by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. And what a message. Peace has come. Reconciliation has been accomplished. Harmony is at work for the Church of Jesus Christ. For the Church is in the Savior. It cannot be otherwise. Otherwise, there is no gospel.

    But this also means that we are not at liberty to ignore that which has been given by God in Christ to us. The truth and reality of this gift of grace are what indict us personally when we presume upon them and then go ahead, in the interests of some worthy cause, to flatter our brethren away. For can we, without detriment to our souls, ignore what is as set and as certain as the cross itself namely that this peace of which we speak exists for us. A peace, in fact, we must insist upon, even when all the pressures of state and church are hard enough to deny it. In fact, the church fought for the sake of her membership, and in order to honor her God’s will to resist trial and torture when she is told, and even that from her own pulpit, that she must take up arms in order to annihilate her own faith. Those godly men in 1861 should have said, no, we won’t go, we won’t do it.

    And if you don’t, you are going to be subject to the discipline of this church. For you see, Christ has not left his church without measures and methods and resources for the resolution of and the dealing with conflicts. And that church is condemned when she fails to use those methods and measures at her disposal. For you see, it constitutes a denial of Christ’s headship.

    Now this is not to say that there were not a great number of extraordinarily fine Christian men who gave themselves to that cause and even died for it. It’s merely to say, as wonderful as they were and as exemplary as they were, they were most definitely confused at this point.

    May we learn from that Holocaust, and may we know what the Church must most certainly do. when such situations does not arise. And may God have mercy upon us all. Let us pray. Our God in heaven, We do ask you that we would live fully and blessedly in the wonderful realities that are laid out for us by the Apostle. May we see Lord the Kingdom and know its reality. And may the church of which we are a part be blessed with the peace of the realm. and that reconciliation and harmony that are found in Christ. And may we begin with those considerations to the end that we might be gracious and forbearing, persevering in peacemaking, and determined that we will not be a part of slaughtering our own friends and fellow citizens in the kingdom of heaven we pray this in Jesus name who is himself the head

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  • A Greater Joshua, a Greater Israel

    A Greater Joshua, a Greater Israel

    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, June 19, 1994.

    About this sermon

    Joshua’s conquest, hornet and angel included, sets the pattern that Ephesians 3 fulfills in a greater Joshua and a greater Israel, Christ and the church. The strange details of the conquest carry real weight into the New Testament’s argument. Real assurance of election shows itself as a desire for God himself more than for his benefits.

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    Sermon transcript

    Please turn in Joshua, the book of Joshua, chapter 24, for a few verses that we will be reading there. This is Joshua, chapter 24, and we are reading from verse 12 through verse 15. Give your attention to what God says. And I sent the Hornet before you, which drove the Canaanites out from before you, even the two kings of the Amorites, but not with thy sword, nor with thy bow. And I have given you a land for which ye did not labor, and cities which ye built not, and he dwelt in them. of the vineyards and olive yards which ye planted, not do ye eat. Now therefore fear the Lord, and serve him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the river, and in Egypt, and serve ye the Lord. And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that we’re on the other side of the river, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

    Then, turning over to Ephesians, Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, we are at chapter three. This is Ephesians chapter 3.

    For this cause I call the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, if ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you, word, how that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery, as I wrote afore in few words, whereby when ye read ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ. which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit, that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs and of the same body and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel, whereof I was made a minister according to the gift of the grace of God, given unto me by the effectual working of his power. unto me, who am less than the least of all the saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all men see what is the fellowship of that mystery which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ, to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers and heavenly places might be known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God according to the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord, and whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of Him. Wherefore, I desire that ye think not of my tribulations for you, which is your glory.

    For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named. that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height, and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God. Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto Him be glory in the Church, by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end.

    Amen. Let’s pray together now. Help us, O God, your poor people, a people that looks to you for our wealth and our riches. Truly, O God, you are our reward, and we glory that you have given yourself to us. Bless us as we think on your word, and help us, Lord, that we would concentrate as is right. Bless your word and your servants today who proclaim it, and may it prosper in those riches of which your kingdom abounds. This we ask through Christ. Amen.

    Now you may recall that our last message, under the title, Considering the Church, one preached two weeks ago, raised for your consideration a bond, a relationship that exists between Paul’s letter to the Ephesians and the Old Testament book of Joshua. This morning we want to go further with respect to this connection. and deepen our appreciation of it.

    We do so by reminding ourselves of that tie that exists as we move from the one testament to the other, the tie that exists between Israel and the Church. Between Israel and the Church. but we are also apprised of the tie, the bond, that exists between that Old Testament leader of the people of God, Joshua, and Jesus Christ himself. As Joshua led Israel across the Jordan into Canaan, that territory promised as an inheritance by God to the Israelites, so Jesus Christ leads the Church through death, by His own death, into that true inheritance, the glory of God. Here, then, it is obvious to us, is it not, that there is much for us to learn about how the Old Testament anticipates for us the New. How the New Testament is actually laid within the Old Testament, and how that Older Testament points to the coming of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and to the fulfillment of His ministry. In this regard, I call your attention to one of the great events of the General Assembly past.

    Nothing that took place on the floor, but something that took place at a book table off the floor. The announcement that promise and deliverance by F.G. de Grasse is back in print. All four volumes are available again to the Church of Jesus Christ. And we all ought to be singing the praises of the publishing house that provided that service for us. And I encourage you, with respect to those volumes, because here is a marvelous testimony to the continuity of God’s purpose, Old Testament to New, but also wonderful testimony as to how, in fact, Jesus Christ is laid within the fabric of the Old Testament and anticipates him and his work.

    But having said this now, with regard to the relationship that exists between Joshua, the book of Joshua, and the New Testament epistle to the Ephesians, there is a deeper appreciation on our part that is still in order as we grasp after the fullness of that New Testament witness. We do not want to be deprived of it. We want it to the fullest extent. It will not, then, be enough merely to connect Israel to the church.

    It will not be enough merely to connect the Old Testament figure of Joshua to Jesus, for And I’m sure you’re well aware of this, Jesus is greater than Joshua by an exceedingly wide margin. Jesus is greater than Joshua, but the corollary is also so. is greater than Israel. Now, as to the exceeding greatness of Jesus, even this is hinted at as we read through the Old Testament testimony, even as we consider some texts in the book of Joshua itself.

    I want you to note, first of all, in this regard, what is said in Joshua chapter 23, in a statement that is not uncommon as you read through this portion of Scripture. We are here in Joshua’s last days before he is to depart from the king. But he is reminding Israel that it was actually the Lord himself who had been doing their fighting for them. Now, as I say, this is a line that is common throughout this portion of Old Testament Scripture. There is one greater than Joshua, Joshua bearing testimony to it, who is responsible for Israel’s conquest of the Promised Land. Now I want you to turn to that portion of Joshua that we read, the 24th chapter, and I want you to note what is said in verse 12. You will note here that Joshua is reporting the words from the Lord himself, that he, the Lord, had sent his appointment. before the Israelites to drive out the hostile nations.

    Now, obviously, this is a poetical way of speaking. There was no literal hornet that was preceding the Israelites into Canaan. Nevertheless, God employs this image in order to set before Joshua himself, and also the Israelites, that there is in fact this intermediary that is operative on behalf of the Israelites as they make their way into the land for the purpose of conquest. God’s intention by this image of the hornet is to draw attention away from Joshua. It is also to introduce into the scene the suggestion of an intermediary, by which then the Lord Himself would accomplish His purpose. Now, we’ve already struck the note in chapter twenty-three that the Lord Himself is doing this, but now we’ve struck another note.

    And that introduced to us, through the figure of the Hornet, the intermediary. God chooses to speak of the accomplishment, then, of his purpose, not irrespective of the introduction of this figure of the Hornet. Now, it is the Hornet, it’s not the Hornets. Not that the Hornets weren’t mentioned earlier, but it seems as if we’ve made progress from an earlier revelation with regard to this very thing.

    If you were to check, for instance, Exodus chapter 23, verse 28, there God speaks in the plural. He speaks about the Hornets, a swarm of them, putting the Canaanite tribes to flight before the onslaught of the Israelites. But that twenty-third chapter of Exodus is very interesting in this regard, because in that twenty-third chapter of Exodus, another figure is introduced to us. In verse twenty-three, God speaks about His angel, or the angel of His presence, and that the angel is the one who is responsible for the scattering of the Canaanites.

    In all of this, we observe the similarity of language, do we not? The Canaanites took to flight by a hornet, by hornets, by the angel, by the Lord himself. The similarity of the language, all referring to the means by which the Lord would conquer the Canaanites. Now, with respect to hornets and angels, we might ask ourselves what might they have in common? How might angels and hornets be brought together?

    Well, they have wings. They fly. But even more now, beyond that particular association You have the noise that they make, the sound of the hornet. Think of a swarm of them. Think of those texts in which God is preceded by the sound of a mighty rushing wind, or of many waters. Think of Acts 2, and the coming of the Spirit, and what is said at that juncture in the history of redemption. God, in his presence, brings that with him which then gives the impression of a great commotion, tremendous noise, as if the sound of many wings beating. angels and hornets? But there is still another level at which we must look at the connection here. For, you see, the angel and the hornets are both creatures of God. The angel and the hornet reinforce the sense of the creaturely.

    And that’s specifically with regard to the intermediary in view. There is an emissary of the Lord being portrayed for us even here, one that appears as a creaturely emissary, hid from view, operative for the triumph of Israel. Above and before Joshua, there is this creaturely agent of conquest. But as we have called attention to the creaturely dimension of this intermediary, we must not lose sight of that verse from Joshua 23, which we noted earlier, that God himself is the agent of conquest. And so close is God bound to his intermediary, specifically the angel of his presence, that in many texts in the Old Testament, it is impossible to distinguish them, one from the other. In other words, then, under the varied forms and images given us here, hornets, angels, the Lord himself, the creaturely and the divine considerations are combined, that Israel might then, through this mediator, be delivered from their enemies, brought into the promised land, and granted peace and rest. In light of this truth, a greater figure than Joshua is perceived, who in a veiled way works for God’s great purpose. This figure is presented under a creaturely form, but also in the blazing glory of divine effulgence.

    One who stands apart from Joshua, but one who also has in himself the very essence of and at the same time the essence of the creature. Yes, there remains that sense in which Joshua and Jesus parallel one another, both linked in similar parallel service. That Jesus’ exceeding greatness is found in that in him, not Joshua, the essence of God and the essence of the creature meet. To be sure, Jesus is a man, like Joshua, but he is also God.

    And in time, the cover of the angel is torn away, and the language about the hornet is dropped. When the God-man steps out of eternity into this world, so that he might lead the people of God by his own death, through death, into eternity, into an inheritance preserved for God’s elect from before the foundation of the world.

    This brings us then to another look at the relationship that exists between Israel and the Church. Our point has been made. Just as Jesus far exceeds Joshua, So the Church far exceeds Israel. We have already spoken about this in our message, our previous message, that dealt specifically with the matter of the inheritance. Israel was granted the land of Canaan, but that gift, that grant of grace, was but a foreshadowing of the greater inheritance. And that greater inheritance is that into which now the Church is entering, the glory of faith.

    But it is important now, especially in light of the language that we find in Ephesians, that we do not permit ourselves to allow our thoughts to rest merely upon the things that might be gained for us in the inheritance. It is a very easy step moving from the material matters of heaven to the material matters of heaven. Thinking of the inheritance almost exclusively in terms of possessions to be acquired. possessions to be enjoyed, they having been granted by grace to be sure. But you see, those of you familiar with Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, you see how he will not allow us to live at that level, he will not allow our thoughts to rest along that line, it is not going to be the near inheritance of things.

    It is going to be the mutuality of the inheritance of persons. I want you to get this straight. Understand the content of the inheritance that is now being bequeathed. There is something even in the Older Testament that pushes us, that encourages us in this direction. Even Joshua’s writings have this in mind when it reiterates the adage heard often in the Old Testament, not given through Moses. I have in mind Joshua 13, verse 33, where this is stated, But to the tribe of Levi, Moses did not give an inheritance.

    The Lord, the God of Israel, is their inheritance as he promised to them. The Levites had God as their inheritance in the midst of the tribes. They got no land, they got God. Now if you turn to Exodus 19, verse 6, you will find there that Moses called Israel a kingdom of priests. You are a kingdom of priests. The Levites were a picture to Israel and a reminder. about the true nature of her identity, that that true character, her identity, was a priestly one realized in the incomparable inheritance of God Himself.

    It is this inheritance that is specifically in view as you come into Ephesians. You read through that first chapter and the language about inheritance there, and you might be befuddled because it seems as if Paul does not tell you explicitly what the inheritance is. But then you come to the third chapter, verse 19, and there the inheritance is spoken. There it is set out in front of you, unmistakably and clearly, that you might know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge. that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.

    That’s the inheritance, the fullness of God. God himself is your inheritance. You understand, then, why the Holy Spirit is the down payment of your inheritance? The Holy Spirit is God, given to you now, unto the end that you might have the fullness of God in the consummation.

    But there is a flip side to this divine-human exchange, and it is alluded to in that nineteenth chapter of Exodus, the previous verse, verse 5. For there, Israel is not merely recognized as a kingdom of priests in view in the sixth verse of that chapter, thereby claiming God as an inheritance, but the people of Israel, redeemed by Him, have become God’s inheritance, His possession. The New Testament, then, brings the fulness of God as the inheritance for God’s people. We inherit God, we possess God, but it also brings about the fulness of God’s own inheritance, namely the nations themselves, including the fulness of Israel. You understand better the sweep of that third chapter. in Ephesians, as Paul speaks pointedly to the Gentiles, and tells them that now they are the ones who are the beneficiaries of the great mystery that was hid from before the foundation of the world, and now they are being benefited immeasurably in that they, too, are the possession of God.

    They are joint heirs in this whole thing. God has declared that the nations are His inheritance, and He is drawing forth from those nations His elect. He is bringing them to Himself as His possession, and He gives Himself to them as their possession.

    God inherits us. We inherit God. That is why, you see, I cannot allow you to merely think about your inheritance in terms of things. You must think of your inheritance in terms of the person of God. You are an heir of God. a joint with Christ. And all of this because, you see, God has determined from all eternity to make you His inheritance.

    And He will not let you go. Do you understand why confidence is now yours? And assurance before your God. He will not let you go. He is determined to have you. And in having you, he gives himself to you. But how can I be sure that I’m part of his inheritance? How can I be sure that I’m elect? How can I know that Christ has died for me? Do you desire Him? Do you long for Him now? Do you hope for Him? full possession of him? If you do, then be assured, according to his word and his promise, that you are his inheritance, and that his desire is for you.

    Let’s pray. Help us in this matter, O God, even as we look with open eyes into the Old Testament books, that we would not be content until Christ is preached to us from those books, until those passages offer up to us the content and significance of the gospel. And Lord, as we have been blessed to live at this time, may we also understand the fullness of the blessing given to us, that we are heirs of God, but that we are your inheritance also. and that you will not let us go. Receive our thanks for this whole matter is inexplicable to us. Sinners that we are, redeemed through Christ’s sacrifice and made alive by his resurrection.

    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.

  • God Inherits Us, We Inherit God

    God Inherits Us, We Inherit God

    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, June 5, 1994.

    About this sermon

    Ephesians 1 reframes inheritance entirely: what God gives his people is himself, and what they receive in turn is not a set of blessings but God’s own presence. Joshua and Moses supply the Old Testament pattern this fulfills. The whole shape of Ephesians turns on that double, personal inheritance.

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    Sermon transcript

    This morning we are reading from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, and we are beginning with a reading of chapter 1. This is chapter 1 of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. I’ll give you attention to the reading of God’s word. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus.

    Grace be to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

    Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace, wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself, that in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in him, in whom also we have obtained an inheritance. being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will, that we should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted in Christ. In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance. until the redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of His glory. Wherefore, I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and love unto all the saints, cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation and the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places. Far above all principality and power and might and dominion in every name that is named, not only in this world but also in that which is to come, and hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.”

    Let’s pray together now. Our God, you graciously give us your word that we might profit, and Lord, we rejoice in that. But we also offer up the prayer that your word would in fact be powerful this day. We know, Lord, that your word shall accomplish your purpose, but we are asking that this day you may show the power of that word in us, but also in other places in the world. Our prayer is for those servants of yours who read and proclaim the word before the peoples of the earth today, that there might be those who are high and those who are low, those rich and poor, those who have prospered and those who are in want, who hear that word and are straightened by it. O Lord, Teach them, the peoples of the earth, by the gospel, the truth with respect to yourself and with respect to the purpose and meaning of life. We pray it in Jesus’ name. Amen.

    You can see western Pennsylvania from Ephesus. You can see, quickly, from the summit of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. E. K. Simpson of Oxford once wrote, Paul’s letter to the Ephesians is the Tizgah Survey of the Land of Promise. You will recall that Mount Tizgah is that summit in the territory of Moab, on the east side of the River Jordan, from which Moses, in his last hours, was permitted to see the Promised Land of Canaan, although he was not permitted to enter that land. Professor Simpson’s remark is meant to call attention to the high level at which this epistle to the Ephesians moves. With Ephesians in hand, we are like Moses on Pisgah, capable both of seeing the whole of the camp of God’s people—that is, the Church—and the whole of the anticipated inheritance—that is, the land of promise—to say nothing of the fact that we are enabled from this vantage point to see the entirety of God’s purpose and intention from the foundation of the world. Now, Professor Simpson’s comment is literally compelling and powerful. It is also true as far as it goes. But unfortunately, as good as it is, it falls short of the true heights to which Ephesians would take us.

    Those heights are not found in Moses on a mountain in Moab. Interestingly, they are found in Moses’ successor, in Joshua, who, rather than Moses viewing the promised inheritance from a distance, actually entered into that inheritance to possess it. As we stare into the story, then, into the story of Joshua, Moses’ successor, we see clearly the form of our Lord Jesus Christ.

    Joshua leads Israel into the blessings of the land of Canaan. Jesus Christ leads us, his Church, into the blessings of heaven. The famous opening, then, to Ephesians, that third verse of the first chapter, makes this connection quite clear. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.

    And as Joshua passes through the River Jordan to assume his position as prince and judge over Israel in the land of Canaan, so Jesus Christ passes through death in order to assume his position as Prince and Judge over the Church in Heaven. It’s also in keeping with what Paul tells us in this first chapter. In the twentieth verse, Paul says, the Father of Glory raised Christ from the dead. and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places.

    Therefore, the crossing of the Jordan River by the Israelites in Joshua forecasts the greater crossing from death to life that those serving reunited to Jesus Christ experience. Israel’s crossing brings to them enjoyment in Canaan under Joshua. But as Ephesians 2 verse 6 tells us, the church’s crossing is by a resurrection. We are raised up with Christ, says Paul, and seated with him, not in Canaan, but in the heavenly places, in the regions eternal above. further with respect to this parallel between Joshua and Jesus.

    The word about Joshua, by way of the Israelites, reverberates throughout the land of Canaan, so that the potentates and powers of that land, entrenched in it, tremble and are even brought to the brink of destruction. But note how this parallel works itself out with regard to Jesus Christ. The word about Jesus Christ, chapter 3, verse 10 in Ephesians, the word about Jesus Christ is made known through the church, it seems, to the rulers and the principalities in heavenly places themselves. so that these rulers and principalities, these spiritual powers, tremble and are brought to the brink of destruction. And one more parallel in this regard.

    Joshua is a warrior. for he leads the people of Israel in a fight against the tribes that inhabit Canaan. The war is against flesh-and-blood enemies for the securing and maintaining of Canaan. It is waged not only by Joshua the leader, but by the people of Israel themselves, both those then with Joshua at the time of the conquest and those in the succeeding generations. They secure and are to maintain the inheritance that has been granted to them in Joshua.

    But note now what is said in Ephesians 6 verse 12. That verse states with respect to the Church and our ongoing struggle. Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against rulers, against powers, against the darkness of this world, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. So we see that the Old Testament book of Joshua provides for us a powerful background against which we may view the New Testament letter of Paul to the Ephesians. A background much more appropriate to Paul’s thinking at this point than that found in the Old Testament story about Moses.

    Unlike Jesus, Moses stops short of the promised inheritance and does not lead God’s people into that inheritance. But like Jesus, Joshua enters that inheritance and leads God’s people into its enjoyment. Unlike Jesus, Moses does not organize the people of God for the continuing fight against those who have usurped rank and place in the inheritance. On the other hand, like Jesus, Joshua does nothing less.”

    Now, it is in this world of reference and correspondence created by the relationship between Joshua the book of Joshua and Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, that the surpassing excellence of Paul’s message blazes brilliantly upon us. For, you see, it won’t be enough merely to make parallel judgments with respect to Ephesians and Joshua. Such parallel judgments will end short of the great and exceeding excellence that we are to see in the administration of Jesus Christ. That administration going far beyond anything that Joshua could have granted to the children of Israel.

    Take, for example, the whole issue of the inheritance. It’s a subject of great concern to the book of Joshua, for you have in that book the parceling out of the land to the tribes, the inheritances granted to each of the tribes as they go into the land of promise. So take this whole issue of the inheritance. In Joshua, the inheritance is the land. In Joshua, the inheritance is the land of Canaan.

    But in Ephesians, the inheritance is associated with what Paul calls the heavenly places, and we have listed all the passages this morning, if you are taking note, we have listed all the passages in Ephesians in which Paul mentions the heavenly places. Now, I say that the inheritance in Ephesians is associated with the heavenly places. I am not identifying the inheritance as the heavenly places, but I am saying to you that in Ephesians the inheritance is associated with the heavenly places.

    And I say this because Paul does not merely intend to suggest that the Jews with Joshua got the land while the Church with Jesus did not. that is not his intention. In fact, so much does Paul wish to avoid what would become a trite and tired equation, namely that the land in the Old Testament equals heaven in the New, that he turns the references to the inheritance on their heads. He throws into his statements about the inheritance a complication, lest you make that equation, in your own mind, too simply, too easily, and thus dismiss it.

    If you look, then, at Ephesians chapter one, verses ten beginning at the end of that tenth verse. You will notice as he moves on, Paul moves on into the eleventh verse, that he makes reference then specifically, explicitly to the inheritance. Now, he has implied it much Previously, he will note that in verse 5, when he speaks about the adoption of children, the adoption of sons, and that brings into view the whole issue of the inheritance. But now, we’re looking at verses 10 and 11, specifically as Paul speaks of the inheritance.

    This is what Paul says, “…in him,” that is, in Christ, “…we have obtained an inheritance.” Or, as the margin of one version puts it, We are made to be heirs. Paul, however, does not tell us what the inheritance is. He just mentions it, but he doesn’t identify it. He doesn’t tell us what we are heirs of.

    Now I want you to drop down to verses 13 and 14, where Paul once more is going to speak about this inheritance. He tells us in those two verses that Christians have been sealed in Christ with the Holy Spirit of promise. The Holy Spirit, then, verse 14, given as a pledge, the old word earnest used there in the King James, means pledge or down payment. The Holy Spirit is given as a pledge of our inheritance. Now, we might think at this point, at least at this point, now Paul will come right out and tell us what the inheritance is. But even though he hints at it, and the hint is there for us if we have the ears to hear it, even though the hint is there, he does not come out explicitly and tell us what the inheritance is.

    But you will note now how he progresses in that fourteenth verse. He goes on to use the most surprising language. in the words that follow as he speaks about this inheritance that is all so important. As I said earlier to you, it is this language then in the fourteenth verse of that first chapter that will turn the usual ways of talking about the inheritance on their heads. In explanation of the inheritance then mentioned there at the beginning of the fourteenth verse, Paul goes on to say, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession.

    That’s the New American Standard rendering of it, or as the King James puts it, until the redemption of the purchased possession, a more literal translation. Now, however you translate it, King James or New American Standard, that is indeed an odd way of stating the case, or speaking about this inheritance which we would think of as our own.

    You see, as we start out that 14th verse, we in fact do hear about our inheritance. Underscore that word, our. We hear about our inheritance, that is, what we are to possess. But as Paul progresses, instead of telling us specifically what it is we shall possess, he throws us a curve, a complication of language. Instead of telling us what we shall possess, he next talks about what God shall possess. Now, the New American Standard may paraphrase this verse by its translation, but that translation certainly catches the sense of Paul’s meaning with a view so likes Paul, to the redemption of God’s own possession. In other words, rather than telling us outright what we shall inherit, Paul tells us what God will inherit. And what does God inherit? Well, in keeping with the language there, of redemption, he inherits what he has redeemed. And what has he redeemed? He has redeemed us. God inherits us. We are God’s inheritors.

    Now, if you are having trouble seeing this point or if it is a bit confusing for you, I want you to look at one more verse, verse 18. Here you have given to you the magnificent, compact statement of the content of Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians. Paul is asking that the eyes of the Ephesians’ hearts may be enlightened. And this to the end, so goes that verse, this to the end, that they might know the hope of God’s calling.

    Now, here, what is said in conclusion, not only that they might know the hope of God’s calling, but that they also might know the riches of the glory of God’s inheritance in the saints.” Underscore those words at the end of verse 18, “…the riches of the glory of God’s inheritance in the saints.” Paul does not say, at this point, the riches of the glory of Ireland. Rather, he says, the riches of the glory of God’s inheritance. God here is portrayed as the imperator. He is the heir. The inheritance is his.

    We don’t ordinarily think like that. We don’t even talk like that. Ordinarily, when it comes to the matter of inheritance, As we give religious consideration to that subject, we are thinking about our inheritance, what comes to us. We are the inheritors, we are the heirs, are we not? The heirs of those things that God has intended to give us. But here, God is portrayed as the inheritor, as the heir. in view is the inheritance that he has in his saints.

    Now, the question rises as to why, why in the world would Paul put the matter like this? Why would he turn this language about inheritance on its head? Well, there are a couple of answers to that. We don’t have time to go into all of them this morning, but just a couple for you, for your consideration. First of all, Paul is endeavoring to set before those who hear him the priority of God in everything. even before you are an heir. Precisely against the background of that inheritance that is yours is set the fact that God himself is air and in parable, and this to underscore the absolute sovereignty and supremacy of God.

    Is there anything like Ephesians chapter 1 in setting that in front of you? Have you not often read Ephesians 1 and just been swept up with the statements here that come in crescendo fashion concerning God and His greatness, His glory, His magnificence? Are you not overwhelmed at times by what you see here with respect to God? I invite you merely to look at verses 5 and 6. of this chapter.

    He predestined us to the adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace. Now, that’s what he says at the beginning. You’re swept around by that at the conclusion of the chapter. and overwhelmed by the priority of God, and that, to the intent that you might have impressed upon you, the absolute sovereignty, the absolute sovereignty and supremacy of God in all things. Paul will not diminish God. Even when it comes to this matter of inheritance, God has the priority. We are even driven to think of Him first. But there’s another reason why the statement comes as it does, in this fashion, the focus upon God’s inheritance, the fact that He is there, rather than the reverse.

    And this is because we are tempted to think about that inheritance that comes to us in terms of things. And Paul is going to preface on this point by taking up the matter of God and His inheritance first, that we might be disabused of that kind of thinking.

    You see, under Joshua, God’s people inherited what seemed to be earthly possessions—things, things that they could handle and touch, things that they could carry around, things that they could amass, things that could prove to them how important they were. Under Joshua, then, God’s people inherited things, seemingly. Under Jesus Christ, God’s people are tempted to think that their inheritance consists simply of heavenly things. The temptation then is to think of our inheritance, moving along this analogy from Joshua to Jesus.

    Our inheritance must be of things, heavenly things, but things nonetheless. But it is precisely here that the excellency of the revelation given us in Jesus Christ, and the excellence of the redemption we have in Him, shows itself. In Jesus Christ, the greatness of that inheritance, that which exceeds what Joshua could deliver, comes through. And to press home the point, Paul talks about God’s inheritance, not of things, but of us, persons. And starting there, you see, he is obviously implying the alternative consideration. starting with God’s inheritance of us. He is pushing us, then, to consider that our inheritance does not consist of things, even heavenly things, but it consists of God. You are an heir of God. as a child of God, as a son of God, you are an inheritor of God. God is giving himself to you that he might be your possession.

    We are forced then to this conclusion when we consider the flip side of Ephesians 1.18. Yes, as Paul says, we are to know the riches of the glory of God’s inheritance in his saints, but we are also to know the riches of the glory of our inheritance in God.

    God is my fortune. God is my inheritance. forever. My goal is to enjoy God forever. And that through the gospel of Jesus Christ. He is mine, and I am His. The comfort and encouragement of this truth, specifically that we are God’s inheritance, is nothing short of overwhelming. You see, God will not be robbed of his inheritance. God will not be robbed of his inheritance. Now it is amazing to me that so many of you can sleep through this message.

    I’m embarrassed for you. Because it seems as if even the thought of the inheritance that God is for you, it is not sufficient to stir your soul to pay attention for a short time on Sunday morning. Do you know that it is a sin to sleep in church? And you will be judged for that just as much as the adulterer the fornicator and the adulterer and the idolater. Now we turn on the fans so you can all stay awake and I put up with the noise and I have to speak above the din of the fans that it is incomprehensible to me. that I can stand here on a Sunday morning and watch half of the congregation go to sleep while the word of God has been proclaimed. You ought to be ashamed of yourselves.

    Especially when you are considering the facts. that your God will not be robbed of his inheritance. And you see, that means he never goes to sleep. Our Father in Heaven, we ask you that you may set before us the excellence of that inheritance which you have in your saints, in us, your children. We pray, our Father, that we would appreciate to the depths of our souls the magnificence of that inheritance which we have in you.

    Please, O Lord, stir our souls that such things as we read out here in Ephesians chapter 1 would grab hold of us, lest we come to that day, that day in which Christ shall appear, and we would find ourselves as those devoid of a spirit capable of response to those very things that are spoken of here.

    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.

    More sermons from 2 Corinthians · Browse all sermons

    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.

  • Peddling the Gospel

    Peddling the Gospel

    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

    Even within the OPC, the church can quietly subordinate Paul’s eternal gospel to something more marketable, the earthly practicality that makes a peddler successful. Christ’s clearing of the temple in Matthew 21 gives a verdict on that kind of selling. The true gospel refuses to master the art of the pitch.

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    Sermon transcript

    Our scripture reading this evening begins in Matthew 21, verse 1. Listen carefully to the word of God. And when they had approached Jerusalem and had come to Bethphagia, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied there and a colt with her, and tie them and bring them to me. And if anyone says something to you, you shall say, The Lord has need of them.

    And immediately he sent them. Now, this took place that what was spoken through the prophet might be fulfilled, saying to the daughter of Zion, Behold, your king is coming to you, gentle and mounted upon a donkey, even upon a colt, the foal of a beast of burden. And the disciples went and did just as Jesus had directed them, and brought the donkey and the colt, and laid on them their garments, on which he sat.

    And most of the multitude spread their garments in the road, and others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them in the road. And the multitudes going before him and those who followed after were crying out, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, Hosanna in the highest.

    And when he had entered Jerusalem, all the city was stirred, saying, Who is this? And the multitudes were saying, this is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee. And Jesus entered the temple and cast out all those who were buying and selling in the temple and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling dogs. And he said to them, it is written, my house shall be called a house of prayer, but you are making it a robber’s den. And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple and he healed them. But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he had done, and the children who were crying out in the temple and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David, they became indignant and said to him, Do you hear what these are saying? And Jesus said to them, Yes, have you never read out of the mouth of infants and nursing babes, Thou hast prepared praise for thyself? And he left them and went out of the city to Bethany and lodged there.

    Then turning to 2 Corinthians 2, verse 17, for 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. Our Father, we do acknowledge that your word is without error. We thank you for this sure anchor for our Christian lives. We pray, Father, for that proper respect and reverence for your word. Give us, therefore, attentive hearts and souls as we would concentrate upon the word which you have given to us. And pray these things in Jesus’ name. Amen.

    I have thought that it was important for me to strike while the iron is hot. I felt that it was important that I complete the thoughts from the morning message, so we are continuing on with our reflections upon 2 Corinthians 2 verse 17. As we have said about this text, Paul’s words here at the end of 2 Corinthians 2 are not only direct and deliberately confrontational, they are complex.

    By his choice of words, Paul has charged his opponents with being dishonest, comparable to hucksters, shysters, These, says the Apostle, corrupt the word of God by mixing the gospel with other things, by mixing the gospel even with such a formidable figure as Moses, as is proved in the third chapter of this epistle. and that in such a way that Moses is appropriated at a level that destroys his true worth, his true value for the gospel of Jesus Christ.

    For Moses, according to this scheme proposed by the false teachers, Moses is appropriated at an earthly level. at the level purely of the earth. And that makes him and his ministry servants of the external world, the world of appearances, the earthly. But by mixing such a perspective on Moses with the gospel has meant a subordination for the gospel itself. a subordination of the gospel to the same external level, the same level as that which is now held onto in this particular vision with respect to the ministry of Moses. The level at which we are now operating is the level of the temporary, the temporary world of appearances. so that not just Moses is viewed at this level, but Jesus Christ and his gospel as well. This means, then, that the gospel has been subordinated, and that the eternal, heavenly gospel of glory is now subjected to the transitory, the temporary order of things.

    Despite the claims of his opponents to Moses, to a world of practical, useful principles and laws for religious living, Paul could not be more adamant or more bold in his opposition to these men. But having said all this, we are compelled to go even further, to probe deeply and to to probe more deeply into the mind of the Apostle. Yes, Paul’s words do operate at the pejorative level, that level which we have already suggested.

    We properly read in these words in 2 Corinthians 2.17 reference to the unscrupulous character of Paul’s enemies. These people are, in fact, religious, theological, doctrinal shysters. That is what they are. As we said this morning, there is that level at which these words can be read quite innocently. Paul here, as we noted this morning, is using commercial language.

    Stripping away the pejorative character of his terminology, he is speaking here about salesmen. He’s talking about salesmen. Certainly there’s nothing wrong, per se, with salesmen, is there? The world, after all, needs salesmen, does it not? Salesmen are a necessity to the order of things, are they not? Christians can pursue a living in sales, and that is an honorable pursuit, is it not?

    Paul, at the most fundamental level of his use of words here, says of the many in 2 Corinthians 2.17 that they are salesmen of the Word of God. But as we’ve indicated, selling is an honorable profession. What could be wrong with seeing the ministry along the lines of, in terms of, this honorable profession?

    Aren’t there general principles and laws that pertain to communication, to the presentation of a product by which selling and preaching the gospel might in fact be linked? Aren’t we who are involved in the ministry of the gospel much like salesmen? Don’t we find an appropriate analogy, an illustration here?

    Aren’t we concerned to get our audience interested in our product? Indeed, we can say it’s the greatest product of all, the greatest product the world has ever seen. Are we not concerned to make a good impression? Should we not dress to make such an impression? Are we not concerned to close a deal, to have the customer buy our wares?

    In 1924, Bruce Barton published a book entitled The Man Nobody Knows, subtitled a discovery of the real Jesus. Now, he built his book off of that text from Luke 2, where the child Jesus says to his parents, Know ye not that I must be about my father’s business? According to Barton, the word business in that context referred to the world of commerce. or was an appropriate image lifted out of the world of commerce, the world of buying and selling. The discovery Barton had made about the real Jesus was that Jesus was a businessman. Here is the real Jesus, the prototype for the modern salesman. Barton then goes on to identify Jesus as the true executive. and the founder of modern business.

    Now there is something in us, even if we are salespeople ourselves, that recoils at this description. It sounds like a trivializing of the person and the ministry of Jesus Christ. But there’s something even more deeply wrong with it. Is it because there is something wrong with the job of selling? Because there is something dishonorable about being a businessman? No. The reason why we recoil from this description is because we sense an incongruity between the two things in view. an incongruity between selling something and presenting the gospel. 1987 was an important year in Orthodox Presbyterian history. In June of that year, prior to the General Assembly, the Committee on Home Missions for the Orthodox Presbyterian Church ran a full-page ad in Eternity Magazine.

    That ad was entitled, She Wants It All, and pictured a not unattractive female showing a lot of leg, working out on an exercise machine. To say the least, she was a real attention grabber. The copy for the ad identified yuppies, of which obviously this young lady was one, as one of the newer lost people groups in the United States.

    The copy also went on to tell the reader that the OTC was now presently pumping spiritual iron, that the OTC was using street smart techniques The Church had targeted Southern California with a phoning campaign that had reached 14,000 households and had led to 165 attending a worship service in San Marcos and 130 attending a worship service in Miramese. The ads then assured the reader that he or she could not go wrong giving money to the evangelistic effort of the OPC. After all, the OPC had fifty years’ experience in, quote, successful church planting, unquote. And for a minimum gift of fifty dollars, you could receive, as a bonus, a free gift of R.C. Sproul’s latest book.

    It’s all available to you also through a toll-free number. Now, this ad did not escape the attention of many a commissioner to the General Assembly. And many of those commissioners were quite distressed about all of the items, each one of them, that I have listed for you here this evening.

    But the one thing most offensive about the ad is the very thing Paul is dealing with in 2 Corinthians 2.17.

    You see, our whole missions committee had moved in such a direction that it now thought it appropriate to mix evangelism with business, and that doing evangelism is actually just doing business, that doing evangelism is merely another exercise in salesmanship. The resulting incongruity was testimony not only to the fact that this was an improper approach to the whole matter of the Church and its ministry, but even more tragically, you see, it was a testimony to the fact that our Church had given way to what was now a wicked approach. An approach that commercialized the Church and her efforts. The repositioning of the Church and her life in a business setting, with the Church now the retailer, the Gospel as the product, Church members and Others outside the Church, prospective consumers, customers.

    All this amounted to a very corrupt perspective upon the Church. Truly, a low ebb in the life of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. A low point in her history. When the dust cleared after the assembly, conclusion of the controversy, the whole mission’s committee had been appropriately chided, letters of apology were extracted from the committee and its leadership, and the general secretary who was responsible for all of this had moved on, had left the denomination. But not that the entire episode I have just reviewed for you didn’t raise the narrower issues that dog the steps of those who treat the church as a business.

    There is the issue of the interchangeability of products. Do you feel the weight of that as you look at the marriage of business and ecclesiology? The interchangeability of products. Does it really matter whether you’re selling Christ or soap? Is not the technique the same? Does it really matter whether you’re selling the church, or cornflakes, or a car?

    Aren’t you amazed sometimes when you listen to some of these people who are masters at selling the gospel? If you close your eyes, you filter out the religious language, doesn’t it sound as if you’re listening to a used car ad? the interchangeability of products.

    There are the techniques of salesmanship. There are the methods that salesmen learn. Preachers, evangelists, missionaries are no different, are they? They would do well to master the techniques of salesmanship so that they can close the deal. the interchangeability of products. There is also the interconnected issue of truth in advertising. What temptations now come to the Church as she marries with the business model? The whole question of truth in advertising becomes a pitfall, does it not?

    Let’s take the OP ad that we reviewed here earlier. Do you realize that that ad, even in the information that I supplied you, contained deliberately deceptive statements? It contained, I’m telling you, deliberately deceptive statements. By this I’m not saying that good salesmen deliberately deceive their customers.

    But, you see, there is the pitfall there. There is the pitfall that always bogs the steps of those who are involved in the business world. This issue impinges upon the Church in a very real way when she adopts the business model. Truth in advertising.

    What the ad failed to tell the reader when it spoke about the 14,000 phone calls and all those people that showed up at those two sites was the fact that most of those people came from OT congregations in other parts of California. Those people showed up because they wanted to be an encouragement to those two fledgling groups that were taking shape. As to the claim made in the ad with respect to 50 years of successful church planning, let’s look at the record, folks. The OPC has watched as many congregations follow and desert the denomination as have remained in it over those 50 years. Now, I don’t know how you measure success. If I’m a businessman and I’m reading this ad along the lines that a businessman would expect to read it, that certainly isn’t registering to me success. I’m just turning my own, I think.

    Well, selling is an honorable profession, but the business world hardly provides a just and adequate model for the gospel ministry in that the two, the gospel ministry and the world of business, are standing in an incongruous relationship. But beyond this incongruity is the liability, as I’ve indicated to you, the temptation that comes when the Church resorts to the business model. it becomes increasingly easy for the Church to slide over into the darker side of the model that it adopts, all the time claiming, of course, that it is pursuing the very best of causes, and that the ends justify the means.

    But Paul will have none of this. And I might add, neither would Jesus Christ, who had driven the businessmen out of the temple courts because of the incongruity in the mixing of those two spheres. And I might remind you of the prophet Zechariah, Zechariah was just as exacting. According to one translation of the last verse of his prophecy, chapter 14, verse 21, the final state of God’s new and final administration will bring about a state of affairs in which there is no longer a merchant in the house of the Lord of Hosts.

    As I said at the beginning of this message, as I have presented my case throughout the day, the thought that the Apostle presents to us here in 2 Corinthians 2.17 is complex.

    My encouragement to you is to plumb its depths and to talk from it. lest the Church be tempted and succumb. Lord, give us strength, and give us that right and proper vision with respect to the Church of Jesus Christ and its ministry, and the integrity that is to characterize the proclamation of the Gospel.

    Our Father, the latter half of this century has been devastating to the Church of Jesus Christ in this country. And that’s not unrelated to the fact that many who have professed the gospel, who have claimed to have calling to preach the gospel, are nothing short of shysters. O Father, we are not stranger to these things within our own denomination, for there have been those who have risen, who have embraced a business model for the church and imposed that model upon the people of God. But Lord, we know that to do this means to cause your gospel to live at the level of the temporary, the transitory, the earthly.

    Bless us, O God, in contrast to such an effort, with the fullness of that gospel that Paul proclaimed. May we see then the purity of your church, the purity of the ministry, and the exalted nature of our Christ, who reigns in glory now. May it please you, Lord, to give to your church those who will proclaim your word with integrity. May we who are to listen and receive that word, O God, may we have discernment, lest some merchant come among us. We ask, O God, that we would be preserved and checked. And this through Christ, the very one who drove the merchants out of the temple. We pray it in his name.

    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.

    More sermons from 2 Corinthians · Browse all sermons

    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.