Grace OPC Sewickley PA

Sermon Series: Misc. Matthew sermons

  • Acceptance and Opposition

    Acceptance and Opposition

    This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Misc. Matthew sermons” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, November 15, 1998.

    About this sermon

    Matthew 8’s acceptance of Jesus gives way to Matthew 9’s opposition, and the two chapters belong together. John’s disciples ask about fasting from their own motives, alongside the Pharisees’ open hostility. Jesus feasts on the gospel in place of fasting by the law, because the kingdom has arrived.

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    Sermon transcript

    Tonight we are reading from Matthew chapter 9. We are beginning our scripture reading there. This is Matthew 9, beginning with verse 1. I’ll give you attention to God’s word. Getting into a boat, Jesus crossed over the sea and came to his own city, and they brought to him a paralytic lying on a bed.

    Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralytic, Take courage, son, your sins are forgiven. And some of the scribes said to themselves, This fellow blasphemes. And Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, Why are you thinking evil in your hearts? Which is easier to say, Your sins are forgiven, or to say, Get up and walk?

    But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins, Then he said to the paralytic, Get up, pick up your bed and go home. And he got up and went home. When the crowd saw this, they were awestruck and glorified God, who had given such authority to man.

    As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting in the tax collector’s booth. He said to him, Follow me, and he got up and followed him. Then it happened that as Jesus was reclining At the table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were dining with Jesus and his disciples.

    When the Pharisees saw this, they said to the disciples, Why is your teacher eating with the tax collectors and sinners? But when Jesus heard this, he said, It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means. I desire compassion and not sacrifice. for I did not come to call the righteous but sinners. Then the disciples of John came to him, asking, Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?

    And Jesus said to them, The attendants of the bridegroom cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they? But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will But no one puts a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch pulls away from the garment, and the worst tear resolves. Nor do people put new wine in old wineskins, otherwise the wineskins burst, and the wine pours out, and the wineskins are ruined. But they put new wine in fresh wineskins, and both are preserved.

    John’s Gospel, chapter 3, verse 22. After these things, Jesus and his disciples came into the land of Judea, and there he was spending time with them and baptizing. John also was baptizing at Anon, near Salem, because there was much water there, and people were coming and were being baptized. for John had not yet been thrown into prison. Therefore there arose a discussion on the part of John’s disciples with a Jew about purification. And they came to John and said to him, Rabbi, he who is with you beyond the Jordan to whom you have testified, behold, he is baptizing, and all are coming to him. John answered and said, A man can receive nothing unless it has been given him from You yourselves are my witnesses that I said, I am not the Christ, but I have been set ahead of him.

    He who has the bride is the bridegroom, but the friend of the bridegroom who stands and hears him rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. So this joy of mine has been made full. He must increase, but I must decrease. He who comes from above is above all. He who is of the earth is from the earth and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all.

    What he has seen and heard of that he testifies, and no one receives his testimony. He who has received his testimony has set his seal to this, that God is true, for he whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure. The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hands. He who believes in the Son has eternal life, but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.

    Let’s pray together. Father, if we find that our resolution is weak and that we are even tired by the day, we ask, O God, that you would give us your strength, that we might finish this day in strength and in power We pray, Lord, that the very power of your Spirit, truly the power of the risen Christ, may be with us. For surely it is true, we are gathered in this place to meet with the risen Christ, as surely as the disciples were gathered in the upper room and met with the risen Christ on that first Christian Sabbath. O Father, if we had been instructed earlier in the day, may our instruction continue, and may we profit this evening as we have profited throughout the day. Truly, O God, may you grant your people a glorious Sabbath, and may we be refreshed as well as informed from beginning to end. Praise to your name, O God, through Christ. In His name we pray, Amen.

    Matthew 9, verses 1-34. We didn’t read them all this evening. form a unit in Matthew’s Gospel. A key and unifying element to these verses has been already forecast for us at the end of Matthew 8. Matthew 8, if you allow your eyes to peruse those verses, contains the sole storing record of Jesus’ supernatural power manifest in his miracles.

    Stories about healings, stories about his power over the elements of creation, stories about his authority over demons. In the five miracles reported in Matthew 8, we hear not the least syllable of a discouraging Instead, we find multitudes flocking to Jesus while Jesus stays at Peter’s home, verse 16 in that eighth chapter, disciples overwhelmed in their amazement following the stilling of the storm, Matthew 8, verse 27, and swine herders among the Gadarenes excitedly rushing to relate their tale to their countrymen. after Jesus had cast demons out of the demoniacs living among the tombs, verse 33.

    But it is at the end of this chapter, verse 34, that something of an ominous shadow begins to appear when the Gadarenes come out to meet Jesus after Jesus had healed the demoniacs. Upon seeing him, upon seeing Jesus, These Gadarenes asked him to leave their territory. Now, as to the exact reason for their request, we can only guess from Matthew’s account, for there’s something of a shadow there. But Luke tells us in his account that the people, the Gadarenes, were gripped with great fear in his eighth chapter, the thirty-seventh verse.

    Matthew might well have left the matter vague because of now what follows, he giving them the faintest hint of what is about to come. You see, as the stories now of Matthew 9 unfold, one thing is clear. In contrast to the stories in Matthew 8, Each story recorded in Matthew 9 eventually involves a statement about opposition. You move from acceptance, glad response in Matthew 8, to opposition. Jesus now encounters opposition that will only intensify over the course of the chapter and truly over the course of the rest of the gospel to its very end.

    In the story of the paralytic with which this chapter begins, the scribes privately charge Jesus with blasphemy for claiming the authority to forgive sins, verse 3. By the time we reach verse 34, the Pharisees are openly accusing Jesus of conserving with of being in league with the devil. In between these two accounts, beginning and conclusion, Jesus is vilified by the Pharisees for eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners, verse 11. He is mocked by the mourners at the bedside of a little girl who has just died, and he is about to raise, verse 24. and he is ignored by the blind man he has just healed, verse 31.

    That blind man, having been given instruction that he isn’t to report what has happened to him, and he goes out and willfully disobeys what Jesus had told him. The behavior of the Gadarenes in sending Jesus away at the end of Matthew 8 provides an entrance then, literarily, into the darker mood of chapter 9. Rejection of Jesus will not be reserved to regions polluted by swine’s flesh, but will express itself among the Jews and among their leaders, those who claim the most spotless record, those who claim a purity for themselves.

    In fact, the situation is even more desperate still. You may have noted that I left out one story in my survey as we went through our accounting of the stories in chapter 9. That is the one that begins in verse 14, going through verse 17. The situation, I say to you, is even more desperate than we might imagine, given the opposition that we’ve listed thus far. particularly as that opposition is now brought into view in verses 14 through 17.

    For the assault comes not just through scribes, not just through Pharisees, not just through those who misunderstand the ministry of Jesus and were gathered, for instance, at the bedside of a dead little girl. The assault comes even through the disciples of John the Baptist.

    Our question for the evening is this, what in heaven’s name are John’s disciples doing in making mention of the Pharisees and their practices? Verse 14. Now, your response may well be, it’s not all that clear to me. that John’s disciples were in the same company with the Pharisees, the mention of the Pharisees by them is merely a matter of common practice.

    Both John’s disciples and the Pharisees fast. That’s all there is to it. Both John’s disciples and the Pharisees fast. Period. John’s disciples are merely citing here a common practice, a common expression of piety. They are hardly keeping mutual company. Therefore, it is not a matter of common company, but of common practice.

    But is this actually the case? we may do well to consider the parallel passages we find for this passage in the other synoptic renderings. For instance, we may do well to consult Mark 2, verses 18-22, where we find the same story spoken of. For here, more clearly than in Matthew’s Gospel, we have this incident specifically tied to one of the regular fasts, one of the prescribed fasts. We are told John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting, verse 18. Now, the Pharisees indeed did fast twice weekly. We find that out in other passages in the New Testament. But there were also the prescribed fasts which, according to the law, occurred four times a year.

    John’s disciples most likely are involved with the Pharisees in one of those regular fasts. Mark’s account furthermore makes it clear that the relationship between John’s disciples and the Pharisees was not merely a matter of their mutual observance of the fast. From the way Mark tells the story, the question to Jesus does not come from the disciples of John alone, but rather comes from both the disciples of John and the Pharisees. John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting, Mark writes, and they came and said to Jesus, Why don’t your disciples fast? John’s disciples and the Pharisees are observing a common practice. but they are also, it would appear, keeping common company.

    In fact, they are asking a common question. But if things weren’t baffling enough, as we move from Matthew to Mark, what if we add Luke into the mix? The parallel text there is in Luke 5, verses 33-39. And if you haven’t fallen out of your pew yet, where do you hear what Luke says?

    For here it is the Pharisees, the Pharisees themselves and the Pharisees alone who ask the question, and in their question they merely cite John’s disciples as they put their question to Jesus. Luke, then, has the Pharisees by themselves ask the question of Jesus. Mark combines the Pharisees and John’s disciples in asking the question, and Matthew presents John’s disciples alone in asking the question.

    And you’re sitting there saying, I have all sorts of questions now. What is going on here? What conclusion might we draw from what seems to be mass confusion? The conclusion we draw is that both groups, yes, as we sew the accounts together, both groups, John’s disciples and the Pharisees, were present. Both groups were engaged, yes, in common practice in fasting, but more than that, both groups were keeping, in certain circumstances, each other’s company, and even formulating questions in consultation one with another, formulating a joint, united approach to Jesus. Now, if we are a little cynical, we might be provoked to suggest a few things. we might be provoked to suggest, for instance, that both groups are using each other.

    In Luke’s reading, the Pharisees cite John’s disciples. You recall, they cite John’s disciples. To what end? For leverage. for leverage with Jesus. After all, Jesus respects John, doesn’t he? In Matthew’s reading, John’s disciples appear to be citing the Pharisees as an authority. In either case, the one cites the other, it would seem, in order to gain credibility in the interests of an irrefutable we fast, we together fast, why don’t you?

    It’s not so much a question, it’s an accusation. And if the Pharisees and John’s disciples are agreed, the suggestion is then who can disagree? Well, by now you may be wondering, are these disciples of the same man who earlier called the Pharisees a brood of vipers? a description, I might point out to you, which links the Pharisees to that old serpent, Satan himself. Are these the disciples of the same man who was especially hard on the Pharisees when the Pharisees came out to observe the baptism he was administering at the Jordan? How is it that John’s disciples and the Pharisees, given what John had said, could ever get together?

    Has something or someone changed since we last checked in on things with John and his ministry? Well, certainly something has changed. John is now in prison, for one thing. But has something or someone changed in the scheme of things other than that?

    Have the Pharisees, for instance, now, because of the preaching of John, produced those fruits of repentance sufficient to satisfy John’s demands? From what we know from the record in the Gospels, it does not appear that the Pharisees ever changed as a group. For instance, a short while after this exchange in Matthew 9, Jesus asks the Pharisees their estimation of John. In effect, the Pharisees held John to be an imposter. no profit, hardly worthy of their support.” Matthew 21, verses 23 and following.

    What, then, explains this alliance in chapter 9? Was it, pray tell, though holding deeply to different convictions, that these disciples of John and the Pharisees were thrown together in a common cause, maybe their common contempt for Herod, John’s jailer, a particularly infamous sinner in the eyes of the Pharisees and in the eyes of the disciples of John the Baptist. Or was a public tolerance of John and even his disciples useful to the Pharisees as they sought to advance their own agenda with the multitudes whom they knew adored John? It is politically advantageous for us.

    Or was the case actually the other way around? Were the Pharisees being used by John the Baptist’s disciples? Were they being used by the Baptist’s disciples in the interests of a more thorough and faster form of reformation for the entirety of Jewish religious life, in keeping with the Baptist’s ministry? Were John’s disciples, now that John was in prison, becoming more adept at playing the power game in Jewish religious and political life?

    Or are we witnessing here something inevitable in sociological development? We have the Pharisee. essentially conservative law and order mainliners, representative of the establishment. On the other hand, we have John’s disciples, presently removed from the founder of their movement. He’s in jail. But they are impetuous, creative, separatist, non-conformists, alert to change and preaching change, challenging the establishment at the very heart and core.

    According to the laws of cultural evolution, groups like these rise in all societies, but eventually, despite their original antipathy, these mutually seemingly exclusive groups begin to intersect. We are told by the best of sociologists that the best of cultures learns how to harness the energies of divergent groups. how to harness the energies of these two groups here presently in view, even to the point of minimalizing their differences. After all, there is so much about which both these groups agree.

    For instance, both John’s disciples and the Pharisees believe adamantly in the supernatural. They believe in miracles, they believe in the resurrection of the dead, over against the Sadducees who reject both. These two groups also expected the Messiah. They had a Messianic theology. Both groups are committed to the law of God in what seems to be an absolute form, and beyond that to the traditions. In this, they are unlike the Herodians, who were playing fast and loose with the law of God and the traditions in order to make peace with Rome and advance a common cause with Rome.

    And even beyond these similarities, both groups are moral and nationalistic purists. And at the same time, both oppose open insurrection and social revolution, and in this they stand over against the Zealots. So far it sounds like the Pharisees and John’s disciples could pass for an earlier version of conservative evangelical mainliners and the more amiable wing of the religious right, or possibly an earlier version of the alliance of evangelicals and Catholics, possibly an earlier version of an alliance of social religious conservatism rising out of the morally sensitive factions in the established Roman Catholic and Protestant churches.

    And why? Because we have common commitments to a moral vision and a moral renovation of culture, and the preservation of society and civilization against the threat of barbarism. I have pled with you again and again that God, in giving to you his word, has thought of everything. You have not encountered, nor will you encounter, a situation in life that has not already been thought about by God and spoken about in his word.

    Is the current difficulty that the Church faces being addressed here even in this text? As you are witnessing the alliance of the religious and cultural conservatives in Israel during the days of Jesus, as they together now step out to ask Jesus an accusatory question that calls into question truly his authority and identity. and that, you see, because there are issues and matters that are more important than Jesus. And there is a kingdom, according to our lights, that makes more sense to us than the kingdom that Jesus presents.

    So what we need to What we need to do is co-belligerence. Let’s join forces with all conservative people, because we share common values. Both the Pharisees and the disciples The disciples of John and the Pharisees have a common question about Jesus, and the startling thing is that because of this question, and despite the apparent sharp disagreements before them, they are, in this story at least, one. and the same. Contrary to the general impression, these groups are one politically and culturally, but more importantly still, they are one religiously. The point is drawn for us on the issue of fasting.

    You see, the Pharisees do not believe Jesus is the Messiah, and as you would expect, they would continue to ignore the pattern of his life and the life of his disciples in the interests of that life that they have already embraced. The Pharisees do not believe that Jesus is the Messiah. and they continue to live religiously the same as they have always done.

    John’s disciples, on the other hand, had been told by John that Jesus is the Christ. But now it would seem, in joining forces with the Pharisees, they challenge Jesus. And why? because they, too, are interested in living the same old way. Do I need to go over that again? The Pharisees do not believe that Jesus is the Christ, and they continue to live the same way religiously. The disciples of John have been told that Jesus is the Christ by John, but they hesitate and now challenge Jesus in the interest of living the same old way, in fact, the same way that the Pharisees lived.

    Jesus tells the disciples of John. Here, as it is said for us in Matthew’s Gospel, that the Bridegroom has come, and that all things now must be assessed in light of his coming and in light of his presence, even matters that pertain to the law order as it had been given to Moses to the children of Israel centuries before. Jesus is saying, in light of my coming and in light of my presence, this is no time for fasting and mourning. Now is the time for feasting, and that’s why you have the story of the feast immediately preceding this story about fasting. But if such instruction is incomprehensible to John’s disciples, especially in light of their commitment to what they judge are the true provisions of the Old Testament law, then what Jesus says next had to be even more impenetrable to them, if that is possible. For Jesus tells these men about his departure, that he is going to go away. And when that happens, he says, then the time of fasting will come.

    Then it will be appropriate to fast again. But for these disciples, what Jesus was saying to them was all wrong, since, according to their theology and commitments, Not only would the Messiah maintain and reinforce all religious givens, particularly the law and the traditions of the Fathers, but having come, he would hardly leave. He would hardly go away.

    Would it not be his purpose, according to their theology and their estimations, would to establish in the earth his righteous rule for the sake of his people, who would live with him in this world in a perfectly transformed culture, a perfect society. But Jesus here speaks about his death. a dying Messiah, a departing Messiah, and the particulars of his gospel then determining the substance, the appropriateness, and the dynamics of all religious devotion, all acts of religious piety, are now assessed in light of him and his gospel.

    He is not subordinate to the law and the traditions The law and the traditions are subordinate to him. He is not subordinate to cultural aspirations and political dreams and sociological inventions. All such things are subordinate to him and to the dynamics of his gospel.

    John’s disciples want old patches on old pants, old wine in old wineskins. Jesus brings the new, but it is especially important for you to understand the character of the new. Is it just something new from the earth, or for the earth? to endure forever in the earth. What Jesus offers belongs to an entirely different order. It belongs to heaven and to heaven’s administration of the kingdom.

    As yet, here in Matthew 9, John’s disciples’ inability to grasp this does in fact place them in the Pharisees’ corner trapped with the Pharisees by a worldly vision and worldly commitments. Be those commitments defined to them by the law given by Moses. Theirs is a religious way of viewing things that will inevitably leave them. Yes, if they are not converted, if they are not transformed, if they do not come to Jesus Christ in faith, and cast themselves down at his feet, slaves to social and political mood swings, victims of an earthbound rhetoric for reform, or is it revival, and blind to the true nature and reality of the heavenly kingdom proclaimed by and embodied in the dying, rising Son of God.

    Where might they recall, where might they listen again to the testimony of their very own master, John, who, before being led off to prison by Herod, said to them, He who comes from above is above all. He who is of the earth is from the earth and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all. Of course, as you know, the one who came from heaven has returned to heaven and is presently preparing in heaven a place for you, and that is the character of his kingdom.

    Not just the Pharisees, but the disciples of John don’t get it. But you do. Not to give you fat heads. were an inflated estimation of yourself. But to set before you this consideration, if John the Baptist’s disciples on their own could not get it, then how did you get it? and you in no way deserve this gift.

    Because you have it now, those places that Jesus is preparing in heaven, he is preparing them for you In looking to you, our God, we are compelled to look heavenward. And this despite the fact that we know that you are present with us even here. But you call our attention above. And the ministry of your son. Calls our attention above also. The nature of his kingdom. Focuses our eyes on war.

    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.

  • Suffering and Glory Combined

    Suffering and Glory Combined

    This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Misc. Matthew sermons” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, October 2, 1994.

    About this sermon

    End-time date-setters and Albert Schweitzer’s own eschatological Jesus both get set aside here in favor of a Christ whose spiritual accomplishment combines suffering and glory rather than deferring one for the other. The Last Supper, read in that light, is where believers’ own union with Christ becomes most concrete. Neither speculation about dates nor a merely tragic Jesus can account for what happens at that table.

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    Sermon transcript

    This morning we are reading from Matthew 26. We are beginning at verse 20. I’ll give your attention to the reading of God’s word. When the even was come, he sat down with the twelve, and as they did eat, he said, Verily I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me.

    And they were exceeding sorrowful, and began every one of them to say unto him, Lord, is it I? And he answered and said, He that dippeth his hand with me in the dish, the same shall betray me. The Son of Man goeth as it is written of him, but woe unto that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. It had been good for that man if he had not been born.’ Then Judas, which betrayed him, answered and said, Master, is it I? And he said unto him, Thou hast said.”

    And as they were eating, Jesus took bread and blessed it and braved it and gave it to his disciples and said, Take ye, this is my body. and he took the cup and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it, for this is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.

    But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.’ And when they had sung a hymn, they went out into the Mount of Olives. Then saith Jesus unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night, for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad. But after I am risen again, I will go before you into Galilee.’

    Peter answered and said unto him, Though all men shall be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended. Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, But this night, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice.’ Peter said unto him, Though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee.’ Likewise also said all the disciples.”

    Reginald Wiggins died last Sunday. His passing, ordinarily, would have been of no special interest. The fact that he was an ordained minister of the Reformed Episcopal Church, laboring in Philadelphia, added nothing to his obituary that would command the attention of the national press. the command of that attention, his death notice most certainly did, and that because of the irony involved in his death. You see, Reginald Wiggins, along with countless others, particularly the followers of Harold Camping, the owner and founder of Family Radio, believed that this world would never see the month of October 1994. Wiggins had, by and large, resigned from life to await Jesus’ return, which he was certain would occur sometime during the month of September. so much had he resigned from life, apparently, that he stopped taking his insulin, and he slipped irretrievably into a diabetic coma. The world has seen October 1994, but the Reverend Mr. Wiggins has not.

    An ironic twist that the secular press could not let pass without comment. Undoubtedly, the Church, from its beginning, has had its share of coops, people who have gone off the deep end. Not a few coops have been born and raised within the OPC. Even a few have wandered in. Even some who have shared Reginald Wiggins and Harold Camping’s convictions about September 1994.

    Believe me, I am not adverse, nor should the Church of Christ and its integrity be adverse to dealing harshly theologically with these sorts of people, despite how exercised they might become in the process. No, it is not all right. It is not all right to believe whatever you want to believe, to think whatever you want to think about the Bible and about the gospel. As Reginald Wiggins proves, beliefs have consequences. Truly, it doesn’t matter how sincerely you believe something if you are wrong, if you are dead wrong and have wandered off into heresy.

    But the secular press’s treatment of and delight in Reginald Wiggins’ death is minor compared to the modernist and liberal treatment of the death of Jesus Christ. The portrait of Jesus that emerged from liberal efforts at the turn of this century interestingly bears striking resemblance to what we know about Mr. Wiggins.

    Jesus was a man of his time. But one especially sensitive, so say the liberals, one especially sensitive to the promises of the prophets, those promises predicting the cataclysmic end of the world as we know it, for the ushering in of the beatific glories of the kingdom of God. The liberals and modernists have gone even further in their analysis of Jesus Christ. they had zeroed in on certain statements which they allow to him, which they allow to him, and they conclude that Jesus believed that the end of the world was not only inevitable, but it was imminent. And thus, you see, Jesus has something of the same kind of mind, religiously speaking, as Mr. Wiggins. But in their context, we’re looking for the immediate end of things, a conclusion, the end of the world. However, there is one large difference between Jesus and Mr. Wiggins. according to the liberals. Jesus, unlike Mr. Wiggins, actually believed himself to be the central figure in the looming apocalypse.

    Modernists have not overlooked Matthew 26-29, for instance, building their case for their portrait of Jesus, even as Jesus faces death. This is the text that says, “‘But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.’” When Jesus made that statement, he was referring to what he believed would immediately take place. He was going to be led out to death, but his agonies, so say the liberals, would so move his Father in Heaven, at least according to the estimations of Jesus, would so move his Father in Heaven that his Father would intervene by bringing about the end of this age and the beginning of a new age. the new age of the kingdom in which Jesus, having been rescued from death by his Father, would enjoy the kingdom’s sumptuous and enervating blessings with his true followers.” According to modernism and liberalism, and according to their high priest, Albert Schweitzer, Jesus died both a deluded and disillusioned man. He was wrong. The end didn’t come. His Father did not intervene. He was not rescued from death. He was wrong, he was dead wrong. In fact, the implication is that Jesus was not only wrong, deluded and disillusioned, he was hovering at the brink of insanity.

    Now we, of Orthodox conviction, respond to this attack upon the truthfulness of our Lord and the truthfulness of the record we have in the Scriptures, and we respond worthily with indignation. But often we do not help ourselves in our responses By the spin we put on texts that have been cited again and again by the liberals.

    Matthew 26.29 is a case in point. Once more that verse.

    But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom. Ordinarily, this passage is made by us of Orthodox and Reformed conviction to refer exclusively to the eventual consummation of all things which Jesus knows full well will take place in the distant future. Yes, after his death, after his resurrection, after the Ascension, after the gift of the Spirit, after an extensive age of the Church. We can expect then the fulfillment of this text, this statement by Jesus, when Jesus then comes back to this world, and in the day in which we are seated with him in the great eschatological banquet at which he will once more drink the fruit of the vine. According to the Orthodox and Reformed, a conservative voice says that it refers exclusively to the distant future.

    There is a major problem with this interpretation. It fails to take into account that Jesus does drink of the fruit of the vine one more time before he dies. Of course you know that Jesus refuses that wine mingled with gall that was offered to him immediately before his crucifixion. You can read about that in Matthew 27, verse 34. Now, he refuses that wine at that time because he must know, he must experience the full extent of that pain associated with his sufferings. If the wine is meant to be a drug to deaden the pain, Jesus refuses the wine. But he also refuses that wine because he must await an appropriate time to drink.

    An appropriate time at which, then, will be signaled the arrival of those things of which he spoke in Matthew 26, verse 29. that before Jesus departs from this world, that time arrives. Think of it now. Think of it. What Jesus spoke of in that twenty-ninth verse of Matthew 26 has arrived I will not drink of the fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”

    Jesus is saying that in some sense the truth and the reality that he spoke of in those lines has been fulfilled. The time arrives then prior to his death. At the close of his ordeal, he cries out with deepest anguish, indicating his full union with his people in their plight. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”

    Lifting that quote from Psalm 22, verse 1. Some at the foot of the cross misunderstood his words. and thought that he had cried out for Elijah to come to his rescue. One standing there took pity on him and ran to the wine that was set there for the soldiers’ use, and also to deaden the pain of the ones that were being crucified. This one then took a sponge and he filled the sponge with the wine, he set it on a reed, and he lifted it up to Jesus, and he offered Jesus a drink, and Jesus took the drink.”

    The power of this act by Jesus cannot be overestimated. It is as overwhelming as it is profound. Its profanity and overwhelming character are communicated to us, first of all, in the remarkable contrast. Here you have Jesus at the height of his agony. But Jesus is involved in something, he is doing something that marks the height of spiritual accomplishment and spiritual bliss.

    It’s as if glory were superimposed upon his sufferings and agony. That in looking at his sufferings you are to see the glory there. But if you turn away from the sufferings, you must of necessity turn away from the glories. And if you will not have the sufferings, you will not have the glory either. It’s as simple as that. At the heart of his agony, he does something then that marks the height of spiritual accomplishment and the high point of spiritual bliss.

    In his death for sinners, there is then the inauguration of the day in which Jesus drinks again the fruit of the vine. In his death for sinners and taking upon himself their guilt and shame, Jesus establishes an environment, nay, a kingdom, in which his disciples will drink with him. And secondly, the power and the profanity of this act by Jesus in receiving the wine takes us beyond even that constitutive event of the cross. The fulfillment of Jesus’ promise here upon the cross finds him drinking the wine of this creation once more. This is very important, for it is not mystical wine. It is not spiritual wine. It is not wine belonging to another world, to the world to come. It is the wine of this creation.

    And by that act, he has established his bond with us as we continue to drink the wine of this creation. You’re getting the point? We also drink the wine of this creation when we sit down to the Lord’s Supper and there commune with Him. He is with us. It is with respect to this wine that Jesus has declared and promised his presence. He says that he will drink it again with you in the day that his father’s kingdom gloriously reveals itself.

    And now the living Christ, that is, the risen Christ, is present with you as you take the cup. And note the pattern of similarity. Despite even your current distress, whatever that distress may be, a distress marked maybe by a wine mingled with gall, by a dry vinegary, not a sweet wine, you have already begun to enjoy the presence of your Savior and the kingdom of his heart. For superimposed even upon your distress and sufferings are the glories of heaven.

    But finally, the power and profanity of what Jesus does in receiving that wine on the cross not the last time that he will receive the wine of this creation. For now, he enters into the realm of the Spirit, and that in anticipation, you see, of the very place into which we ourselves shall be brought.

    We also will take that last drink. We also will take that last drink. Only then to enter into the realm of the spirit, and there in our resurrected bodies, to partake with Christ, whom we shall behold, whom we shall see, the new, festal, mystical, spiritual wine of heaven. But I say to I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”

    Had Reginald Wiggins realized the full weight of Matthew 26-29 and similar texts, he may not have died so miserably. If we realize the full weight of this text and others like it, then we will neither live nor die miserably, but most definitely rise above all the miseries of this world to the blessings of a full communion with our Lord.

    Teach us, O God, lest we be fools even while we profess the truth. Lest we be fools in your eyes. We ask, O God, that we might have a proper interpretation of your word. Nor would we miss the sublime and profound blessings that are already being communicated to us from heaven by your son. And we thank you, O God, that in keeping with his declaration, he is with us even as we partake.

    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.

  • Peter’s Idolatry on the Mountain

    Peter’s Idolatry on the Mountain

    This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Misc. Matthew sermons” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, March 28, 1993.

    About this sermon

    Some who call themselves Calvinists drift toward liturgicism and Catholic practice, and the Transfiguration speaks to them as a prefiguring of the resurrection. Peter’s impulse to build three tabernacles is idolatry. In 17:5 the Father turns attention from the spectacle to the Word.

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    Sermon transcript

    Scripture reading in Matthew chapter 17. We will be looking at chapter 17 in Matthew this morning. Let me begin reading at the first verse. After six days, Jesus taketh Peter, James and John, his brother, and bringeth them up into a high mountain apart, and was transfigured before them.

    And his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. And behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elijah talking with him. Then answered Peter and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here. If thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles, one for thee and one for Moses and one for Elijah. While he yet spake, behold, A bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice out of the cloud which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, hear ye him.

    And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face and were sore afraid. And Jesus came and touched them and said, Arise and do not be afraid. And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man save Jesus only.” And as they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, saying, Tell the vision to no man until the Son of Man be risen again from the dead.

    And his disciples asked him, saying, Why then say the scribes that Elijah must first come? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elijah truly shall first come and restore all things. But I say unto you that Elijah is come already. and they knew him not, that had done unto him whatsoever they listeth. Likewise shall also the Son of Man suffer of them.’ Then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist.”

    Lord, we would not neglect to pray to the Lord of the Harvest that those workers which you would set aside would be raised up. Indeed, Lord, we see the answer to our prayers as the Church sees within herself sons raised up to proclaim the word to the ends of the earth. So even this morning, Lord, and upon this day, even from the morning through the evening, the greatness of our God shall be declared, and truly, Lord, your harvest shall be brought in. We pray in gratitude that we ourselves have been gathered, we pray in confidence, knowing that you shall perfect all of your purposes and your word will not return to you void. We ask, Lord, that you would hear us through Jesus Christ, amen.

    My friend of a dozen years or so did not tell me himself about his decision, so I had to learn about it from other people, mutual acquaintances. He had been a devout Calvinist, a convinced Presbyterian. He was even thinking about the ministry he had fought in fact about ministry in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. But now I was informed he had left all of that behind him in order to join the Greek Orthodox Church. The last information I received about him was that he was putting up icons throughout his house and teaching his little daughter to kiss them.

    A few years ago, the Presbytery of Ohio, the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, was rocked by the news that a very capable, talented young man, a youth group leader in our churches in Grove City and Harrisville, had not only left the OPC for the Roman Catholic Church, but had now become an ardent evangelist for Rome’s position against all the claims of Luther and Calvin.

    Stories like these are multiplying They are reported regularly in the religious press, and they seem to know no denominational boundaries. The avalanche began about a decade ago with news that Elizabeth Elliot’s brother, Thomas Howard, had defected to Rome from the evangelical world. More recently, the news comes out of the Lutheran Church that their highly respected conservative theologian, Richard Newhouse, has abandoned his position as a Protestant spokesman for the higher clerical life in Mother Church. And then there is the story about Frankie Schaefer. the rather infamous son of the evangelical luminary Francis Schaeffer, who was now upset his mother, Edith, and many of his close friends, because he has rejected his past for the comforts of Eastern Orthodoxy.

    But bringing matters still closer to this congregation Although it’s not Rome or Constantinople that is in view. But rather Canterbury. This congregation was in fact severely disappointed when two ministerial candidates close to it decided in favor of the liturgicism of the Anglican tradition rather than for the simple, plain-style Puritan worship revered by us.

    I have wanted to address this subject for some time. I could wait no longer. I even had to put off the conclusion of Philippians. My intention is to speak to it more fully at a later time in a future series, a series in which I hope to address as well the perplexing issue now that has arisen within Christendom that of what is called contemporary worship style. For the moment, I want to speak to the narrow issue that of high church liturgicism. This becoming so pressing upon the conscious consciousness of conservative Christianity, evangelical and reform.

    If you don’t see your friends, in fact, you may well see your children. I have chosen the story of the Transfiguration in Matthew 17 because I think that it sets before us this crucial issue. If we are confronted with the disciples and their perspective.

    They move along a track that takes them in a direction just the opposite of where God would have them go. You see, it is possible to have religious experiences and not understand them. It is possible to have religious encounters and completely misinterpret them. Such phenomenon even has biblical backing. Such things do occur, you know.

    The perspective of the disciples in the end proves to be no innocent variation upon a A position infected with certain improprieties, but at base, you know, acceptable. In light of what Scripture is saying here, the position of the disciples ends up being dead wrong. Yes. Yes, you can be dead wrong. and I am bold to suggest that their perspective is a position that matches up well with the high church liturgically dominated traditions of Christendom.

    God on that mount of transfiguration sets before this small group of Jesus’ disciples a manifestation of Christ’s post-resurrection glory, that which is coming. It is as if Jesus in this setting were getting a preview of his promised exaltation, and that as an encouragement for him in the face of his coming crucifixion. But how do the disciples react to this revelation? You have them reacting through their captain, as it were, their spokesman, Peter. He wants to build booths. He wants to build tents. He wants to build what are called in the text tabernacles. is the significance of this suggestion. What are these tabernacles all about? Well, their meaning can hardly be their impressiveness, since what kind of structures are these disciples going to build up there on top of the mountain? No, it’s not their impressiveness that’s important, but if not that, then what?

    Some have suggested that we see in these tabernacles a connection with other tabernacles in Israel’s history. Those that belonged to Israel’s celebration during the Feast of Tabernacles in the fall of the year, that feast marking The events of the wilderness wanderings as the people of God moved throughout the desert, poor and humble, dwelling in tents or tabernacles, until the time they entered into the land of Canaan. But you will note that Peter here is not suggesting tabernacles for him and his friends, James and John, structures that would be appropriate to their humility in light of the revelation that had been given. Rather, he is proposing here tabernacles for the glorified Christ and for the heavenly visitors, Moses and Elijah.

    And what need have they of tabernacles reminiscent of humility and the days of humility in the wilderness wanderings? The truth is that these tabernacles actually have the character of shrines. These tabernacles have the character of shrines, more closely related to, more closely tied to the Old Testament tabernacle, singular, the precursor to the temple than to the booth built by the children of Israel year by year during the Feast of Booths and Tabernacles. Why would the shrines be appropriate?

    Because, you see, Peter and his friends do not envision Moses and Elijah leaving. nor do they envision the glory which they are beholding presently in Christ as fading or disappearing. These tabernacles will serve as religious centers in which these three glorious personages may conceal their glory while commanding the attention of the world. And who knows what lies in the future for these poor, humble shacks on that mountain?

    I can envision them becoming cathedrals. There are, of course, multiple problems with Peter’s suggestion. First, and obviously, it fails to realize that Jesus has not as yet reached his goal. Jesus reminds them of that goal as they come down from the mountain, you will note. That goal is his rendezvous with the cross at Jerusalem. and beyond that, the resurrection into glory that takes him beyond all of the shrines and cathedrals of this world. Secondly, Peter’s suggestion fails to appreciate what the work of Jesus is designed to accomplish.

    Peter is a good Jew. He sees, accented here, some sort of enterprise that will continue what has been. Making it better, of course, but in a sense continuing what has been. But the true objective is no mere perpetuation of the old order with its concentration upon external matters, its concentration upon an earthly administration and things visible.

    The appearance of that cloud that seems so prominent in the narrative testifies to the arrival of something new, a redefinition The cloud, you will recall, in the Old Testament filled that Old Testament tabernacle. Thus, that Old Testament tabernacle had placed upon it the seal of God, testifying of his presence. The cloud here now envelops not buildings, but persons present on the mount. They stand apart from human structures. and it is from that cloud that the father of all glory points out the supremacy of his son and gives command with respect to the commandments of the son.

    This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased here. The focus is upon the It’s plain style, folks. It’s plain style, even from the mount of transfiguration, regardless of your aesthetic sensitivities, regardless of how you want to cultivate your aesthetic character and the dimensions of your personality that are artistically bound and determined. My friends, it is plain style that is set out to you here in the New Age. The focus is upon the Word. Moses and Elijah will leave. Jesus himself in his body will leave.

    Peter will be proscribed from establishing those structures on the mountain, in order that the focus might be elsewhere. The first, therefore, of this revelation is away from the Old Testament administration. A new tabernacle is coming that displaces the old. Neither Peter’s tabernacles nor the Old Testament tabernacle and structures will do. But it is as if the high church liturgicism of Christendom has determined within itself to build those tabernacles that Peter was kept from building. But I want you to note that this tradition within Christendom has done one better than even Peter.

    For they have invested their religious traditions and their structures with those things that no self-respecting Jew would ever invest their structures. To be sure, we see the vestiges of an old testamentalism in the ceremonies of Rome and the tradition of Constantinople as well in Canterbury, and it is a shame. It is a tragic shame that could break our hearts that the Christians bound to these ceremonial traditions and these practices cannot see the anachronism of their priestly parades, their religious garb, their sacramental dramas, their incense and their temples. But there is also the matter of their sinfulness, a sinfulness that blinds them. made all the more apparent when these people, in the absence of the living personages who had gathered together on that mount, made for themselves images of those very persons in order to decorate their shrines. Peter has now been elevated to such a height that he is judged worthy of having a shrine of his own. Can you imagine Jesus saying, No, Peter, I’m not going to let you build a shrine for me, but I’m going to build one for you.

    This is madness! This is madness! At this point, we are no longer dealing with an attempt merely to hold on to Old Testament formalism and ceremony, Old Testament externalism and earthiness. We have actually wandered into the territory of paganism. Do you remember? The Israelites were strictly forbidden not to make images. Much better that we take our cue from a mature Peter, who in the end directs our attention above. Do you hear what he says?

    Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ which, according to his abundant mercy, hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you.” Much better we take our cue from a mature John. who records the story of Jesus’ encounter with the woman of Samaria.

    In that encounter, Jesus says this, that an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth. For such people the Father seeks to be his worshipers. God is a spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

    Amen. Let’s pray. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. and one of those things was the character of worship. And O Lord, as in fact the Mount of Transfiguration and its proper meaning informed them, may it inform us. May our hearts be directed above, may we be concerned about those things which are invisible, May we be determined to listen to your word and to obey, and may we rejoice in that spirit wherein the hidden God communes with the hidden heart through the word and the spirit. For such worship as this, Jesus died. to inaugurate.

    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.

  • More Than a Nature Miracle

    More Than a Nature Miracle

    This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Misc. Matthew sermons” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, July 30, 1989.

    About this sermon

    Filing Christ’s rebuke of the storm under ‘nature miracle’ reduces it to almost nothing. The sea carries symbolic weight throughout Scripture, and following Jesus into the boat shows what discipleship is. Christ has already triumphed and delivered his disciples, and calming the weather was the smaller act.

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    Sermon transcript

    Our scripture reading is changed this morning from the one that was listed. We are in Matthew 8. We are at verse 18 and we will be reading through verse 27. Hear the word of God. Now when Jesus saw great multitudes about him, he gave commandment to depart unto the other side.

    And a certain scribe came and said unto him, Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man hath not where to lay his head. And another of his disciples said unto him, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. But Jesus said unto him, Follow me, and let the dead bury the dead.

    And when he was entered into a ship, his disciples followed him. And behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves, But he was asleep. And his disciples came to him and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us! We perish! He saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. But the men marveled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the seas obey him?

    We have a leap ahead from Matthew 6 to a famous pericope, famous story, one that is recorded in each of the first three Gospels, namely the spilling from the storm. Matthew, in this section in his gospel, has gathered together a number of miracle stories. We’ve run through Matthew 8 and 9, and we note a number of miracle stories there included.

    This particular miracle is often cited as an example of the so-called nature miracle. miracle that demonstrates Jesus’ power over nature, the world, and the realm of nature, calling attention to his extraordinary might and magnificence. However, it is my hope this morning to show you just how much this story exceeds the boundaries of a near-nature miracle. There is much more involved here than simply an account of Jesus’ power over the forces of the creation. This story, in truth, reaches out in such a way as to demonstrate Christ’s power not just over nature, but over supernature. And it is a story that has something specific to say about the matter of discipleship. These matters then bring us beyond the boundaries of a miracle simply preoccupied with Christ and his power over nature.

    Matthew 8 verses 23 through 27 is specifically about discipleship. It is specifically about following Jesus, and that is why we read the story that leads into this particular account, verses 18 through 22. Jesus there, withdrawing himself from the crowds, telling of his intent to make off across the Sea of Galilee to the other side. and then certain would-be disciples coming to him, making their protestations, and Jesus making his appropriate responses to them. Discipleship, an easy matter, a comfortable thing, or something filled with risk and danger, something injected with a specific precariousness. Are these disciples spoken of, these would-be disciples of verses 18 through 22, prepared actually for what is in store? One says, I will follow you anywhere, Jesus, and then Jesus says, well, I really have nowhere to lay my head.

    Have you taken that into account? In this world, I am but passing through. As are my own, so am I. I am numbered with them. I am a stranger and an alien. Have you taken that into account? Another one says, but first let me go and bury my father. Let me prove to be the faithful son in this Jewish economy. That the man’s faithful son, in order that inheritances may be passed on from generation to generation. Let me first secure my inheritance in this world, Jesus, then I will come and follow you.

    So we have the protestations of the would-be disciples, and they then are contrasted with readiness, seemingly, the readiness, the unquestioning readiness of the disciples that actually do follow Jesus. Notice verse 23. Jesus has made plain his intent, he’s going to cross over the sea, now he’s gotten into the boat, and there are these disciples who follow him.

    They are not making excuse They are not declaring this and that, but what is said of them is this. They followed him. Now Jesus most definitely knows what’s out there. And most likely these men, being fishermen, know what’s out there too. They follow. True disciples follow Jesus. Now there are many great religious figures and there are many great personages that this world has known. There have been many that have arisen within the church herself. that you see true disciples of Jesus follow Him. And that, regardless of the cost. But to be a true disciple of Jesus, to follow Him means to be placed at risk. to be placed. In the midst of danger. First twenty four. Great storm arose in the city both covered. With.

    What kind of master is what kind. of Lord, can this be, that takes his disciples out into the midst of the sea, at a time when the sea revolts and is most likely to overthrow them? The true disciples of Jesus, those who follow him, are placed at risk.

    And true disciples of Jesus are those who are utterly dependent upon him. They cry out to him, Lord, save us or we perish. There’s no one else to whom they can appeal. There’s nowhere else they can go. True disciples are utterly dependent upon Jesus. And true disciples, in light of their Lord’s provision, are left in complete astonishment before Him.

    That’s how the story ends. How many of these things have now evaporated from the cause of Christ, as it is so defined in our liturgy? Disciples following everyone but Jesus, or all seemingly enlisting Jesus for their cause as if Jesus were following them, not they, Jesus, The root of discipleship, one of comfort and ease.

    Why do you think I came to Jesus in the first place? I was having trouble. Life was a mess. The complications were overwhelming. I came to Jesus in order to get out of the mess, in order not to be at risk or to be found in danger or to have my life viewed as precarious in this world. dependent on Jesus, rather much more upon my own resource. I still attend worship.

    I put in my time with respect to prayer and other religious duties, but really, you see, God has left us here to depend upon ourselves our own resources, our own capability. We will accomplish the purposes of the kingdom. We will achieve the end that religion has in view by our own devices, by our own cleverness, by our own strength. What a marvelous invention is modern science. for modern science has taught us just how much in control of things we are. Why we can even program a revival. We can analyze the ingredients necessary to bring about a renovation of people in any given location. We can chart the path. We can enlist all of the right ingredients, put them in place, and what do you know, as we mix them together, instant revival of the Holy Spirit, bound to deliver.

    And with respect to the last, what can be said? Astonishment before the person, the personage of Jesus. Astonishment, awe, amazement. You possibly melted before him? What manner of man is this? You literally awestruck by so magnificent an individual. One incomparable. the likes of which has never been known.

    Our familiarity with Jesus breeds contempt. I get a kick out of the various Sunday School publishing firms that put out their version of what Jesus looked like. The one that I liked best was the fellow with the square jaw and the well-trimmed beard, a rather muscular torso. I could swear if you put a T-shirt on him and a whistle, he’d look like a director of a youth camp. Now some worshipful children may stand in awe of such a figure, but generally, not so. Here are the disciples then.

    In fact, the life of discipleship, seen as it were, as a life in a boat crossing the precarious sea. How severe, how extreme the risk, how deep, how precarious the journey. How might we see the sea? How will we interpret that upon which Jesus now has launched out. Well, in one sense, the sea can be viewed as the world as a whole. The world that threatens the disciples. The world, through various means, that seeks to grasp of the disciple and pull him down. But even more, in keeping with what we find elsewhere in the Bible, in the Old Testament, and also in the New, the sea is a figure of the awesome abyss.

    The bottomless pit The risk in view is launching out upon the face of the world, launching out over the surface of the abyss. And the truth of the matter is, no, it’s not that if you’re lucky you will survive, it’s that you can’t survive. It’s impossible for you to be successful in this journey at all. It’s nothing that can be avoided. It is faced inevitably. It is there for all that would be disciples of Jesus Christ. It is there. The sea must be traversed. You must cross over the face of the world and over the surface of the abyss. But how are you going to do it? How are you going to survive? How are you going to make it?

    As much as in that day, when these disciples in that boat were crossing that sea, all disciples of Jesus presently are in a boat and they are crossing the sea. While they do so, it may well appear to them that Jesus is far distant, as much as asleep Unconcerned.

    Jesus, of course, is not unconcerned. Oh, he has slept. But he has also awakened. He has died, but he has also been raised again. And he, as the living Christ, is always awake now, though seemingly distant, to provide for his own, to hear their cries and to bring them through. has triumphed over the world and over the abyss by his death and resurrection, and he has the power over both.

    It may well seem to us now even more so than it did for those disciples when Jesus was asleep in the stern of the ship. Jesus now being in heaven, that he is absent from us, but think again, our Savior is present, guaranteeing to us our folks’ safety. And as it was then, when he responded to the prayer of his disciples, chiding their unbelief to be sure, yet granting their request, he did so by his word, and there came for them the great call.

    Not only then, his presence with you as you traverse the world, as you cross the surface of the abyss, an impossible task, not only his presence, but also the certainty of that calm and peace that promised to you and conveyed to you through him. He is the one who has overcome the world, granting to you an uncommonty not as the world a serenity that comes from heaven, but then lays upon the surface of the world and upon the opening of the abyss. There is a day coming. when, in the language of another storm story found in the Gospels, there is a day coming when Jesus will come to us through the raging tempest and the contrary winds. As one who seemingly walks upon the surface as one seemingly from another world. And in that day it will be clear to each of us that there is granted to us through him the power to walk upon the surface with him.

    As the disciples get into the boat, it’s not in lieu of a possible journey, one capable of successful end. It is an impossible journey. It cannot be made successfully without Jesus. If in fact our Christ can calm the storm of the world and quiet the abyss, He can certainly take care of us each day in all of our little tempests that arise. until the end, you see that the calm come and the journey successfully is completed He is present with you today And it is important for you to remember that, not only as you receive this word, but as you receive the sacrament of the Lord’s suffering. the boat may appear as if it cannot withstand and in the midst of the storm we may even lose our sense of that ability to chart a course that will bring us to land but in our ship is Christ With Him, now all things are possible. And we are saved. We thank you for this, our God, and ask that we would remember the presence of your Son with us, in the Word, and also in the Sacraments. 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.

  • Preparing Disciples for His Death

    Preparing Disciples for His Death

    This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Misc. Matthew sermons” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, February 26, 1989.

    About this sermon

    John the Baptist’s death, just prior in Matthew’s narrative, already anticipates Jesus’ own, and the walking on water that follows is read as Jesus preparing his disciples for exactly that death. The boat on the water carries real symbolic weight for both Christ and the disciples together. What the scene finally promises is Christ’s own spiritual presence with the church, even in his physical absence.

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    Sermon transcript

    going to be a bit adventurous and turn to Matthew’s Gospel and look at verses 22-33. Matthew’s Gospel, Chapter 14, verses 22-33. to the word of God. And immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of him to the other side, while he sent the multitudes away.

    And after he had sent the multitudes away, he went up to the mountain by himself to pray. And when it was evening, he was there alone. But the boat was already many stadiums away from the land, battered by the waves, so the wind was contrary. And in the fourth watch of the night, he came to them, walking upon the sea. And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were frightened, saying, It is a ghost.

    They cried out for fear. But immediately, Jesus spoke to them, saying, Take courage. It is I. Do not be afraid. And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it is you, me to come to you on the water.” And he said, come. And Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But seeing the wind, he became afraid, and beginning to sink, he cried out, saying, And immediately Jesus stretched out his hand and took hold of him, and said to him, Little you of little faith, why did you doubt? And when they got into the boat, the wind stopped. Those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, You are certainly God’s son.

    Our Father, we pray that our faith would be such that we would lay hold of all of the certainties that belong to us despite the fact that we must live by faith and not by sight. O Lord, may your word minister to us so that we would not be frightened by the matters and concerns of this world, and place ourselves with confidence in your hands. O God, we ask you that we might be benefited by the calm that comes because of Christ. So, Lord, we are served by you. that we might be at peace with ourselves. Now, Lord, as we reflect on your word, may there be, as we have prayed, those certainties and assurances built up for us. We ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.

    This passage has been going round and round in my head for a couple of weeks now, ever since we had the occasion to review it in our family worship, reading the story as it was presented for us by Mary Ann Radius in her book, God With Us. the account of the New Testament, putting words that are appropriate for young readers. It’s the story of Jesus and the disciples, the boat on the sea, Jesus coming to them, his disciples walking on the water.

    So rather than returning tonight as I had intended to, the story of Elisha, I have decided to attempt some treatment of this passage this evening. Now you might just judge that I chickened out because the passage that I was going to return to is that that had to do with the floating access. And you’re just as good as mine as to what to do with that. But here we are this evening in Matthew 14. The scene is set for us by what we find in the opening twelve verses of the chapter. That is an account of the death of John the Baptist. Now, let that sink in.

    The death of John the Baptist, so that in verse 13 we have, Now, when Jesus heard it, he withdrew from there in a boat to a lonely or desolate place by himself. So there is this impact upon Christ, registered by the death of John, this one who was the precursor of his own ministry. It most definitely then, this death of John, it most definitely precipitates a crisis. It’s almost as if with the death of John there comes an anticipation for Christ of his own. The seriousness of it all settling in upon him in an unprecedented way. The cost to John of his ministry now pressing in upon Jesus, the cost of his ministry sure to fall. for one death begetting the other.”

    Jesus reviewing those circumstances, is it too far for us to go in suggesting that Jesus shudders? But this brings in view, then, the fact that Jesus, in his death, will in fact be taken away from this world. There will be a withdrawal for him. So we move into verses 13 through 21, and the story of the feeding of the 5,000. As Jesus withdraws, there is something of a death taking place even there, as his withdrawal anticipates the separation of himself from the world. So it will be when Christ dies. he will be taken out of the world, away from the world, in his flesh. And his people will be left, as it were, to abide in a desolate place, a wilderness, while he is in his body, absent from them.

    His absence does not mean that he is forgotten. He withdraws, but the world seeks him. The multitudes still come after him. But the way in which Jesus now treats this circumstance of the multitude’s pursuit is as if he were not there, and that conveyed through the instruction that he gives to the disciples that are present with him. The multitudes go out to meet him, to seek after him, and they find themselves in a wilderness, in the wilderness of this world, a desolate place. They themselves, there, just as Christ has been before them. For they, in seeking him, have become a pilgrim people. a people who truly have no abiding city here. But we have suggested that the way in which Jesus will treat the multitude and the circumstance, this situation, is along the lines of his coming absence.

    For when the day draws on toward the evening, The disciples beseech him to send the multitudes away that they might find something to eat, that they might not faint. But Jesus, in verse sixteen, tells his disciples, you give them something to eat. As if they have the resources As if they were the ones equipped, as if he was not even there at all, they were the ones to whom then the multitudes were to look for their provision. Is it not significant then that after The loaves and the fishes are multiplied in that story, and the five thousand are fed. We are told that twelve baskets full of fragments were taken up and one for each of the disciples. The provision remains there to dispense.

    The story then anticipates a time in which Jesus will not be present. And those who are the disciples of Christ will have the resources given them of Christ, by which then the multitudes of the world will be fed and satisfied. Jesus fully expects them in that day in which he is withdrawn from this world, his disciples, capable of ministering to the multitude of humanity that seek him. Well, it won’t be merely a physical bread you see that is supplied. I don’t know many ministers today who have been at work multiplying loaves and fishes The supply, you see, is spiritual.

    The bread that is multiplied that day is indicative of a greater print by which the multitudes of the earth will be satisfied, if in fact they can be satisfied So that sets the tone, you see, the death of John, anticipating the death of Jesus, John’s removal, anticipating Jesus’ removal, the disciples present and in their presence in the world with Jesus removed, they then to be capable of supplying with that provision that he provides what is necessary for the sustenance of all of those that would seek life from Christ, the people fed by the Word.

    But now we move on to this story we read, verses 22-33, and Jesus upon the water. As if one would wobble were not enough. Jesus, there in verse 13, having withdrawn initially, now there is a subsequent withdrawal. There is more yet to teach. There is more instruction to be given along these lines. Here, the multitudes themselves are not central, but the disciples themselves. The cycles are central to this event, not the wilderness, not desolated place, out in the wilderness, but the sea, the wind, the waves, the storm. These become central for the story.

    Here, as Jesus withdraws, once more there will be underscored the fact that Christ, in his body, in his flesh, will withdraw from this world. And not just from the world, but from his disciples. There will be a seeming separation between him and his church. And Jesus is the one who forces the issue. It’s something that is under his control. Read well that twenty-second verse, and immediately he made better read. He compelled the disciples to get into the boat and forced them to leave. The separation is not their choice, it’s his.

    So, the disciples launch out upon the sea. If that land, that territory into which the multitudes came, spoke of a wilderness and suggested then privation and need such as only Christ could answer, now we are upon the sea. We are upon troubled waters. The wind comes, the storm rages. it is contrary to the movements of the ship that is on the sea. Here is indicated for us all of those powers that conspire to set themselves against the Church of Christ, for that is, after all, what those disciples are in that boat, the Church. Forced to separate at 22nd verse, anticipating Christ’s voluntary withdrawal from his Church he in his body, in his flesh, being taken away from his church seemingly. The boat upon the waters is nothing less than the church herself, opposed by all of those elements in the created order, be they seen or unseen, that set themselves against the Church and her progress. Most specifically, the waves torment the Church. Most specifically, the wind is contrary to the Church. As it seems as if there is no progress for her. As if she is getting nowhere. In the midst of her perplexing circumstance, there comes to her. Her savior. Walking upon the waters. The troubled sea.

    Through the wind. he comes to them with the message of resurrection, with the message of power. That by him and through him she herself shall prevail, she shall be triumphant. Who are frightened at what they see, but he extends to them the comforts of glory. Take courage, it is I. Don’t be afraid. What is it out of this gospel specifically, then, that this message would register upon our souls and conscience. Is it not the fact that the Church, in all of her striving, in all of her labors, may well be convinced that she makes little progress, gets nowhere. But yet, in the midst of all that is set against her, she is certain of triumph in the end, Her Savior comes to her, ministering to her in her need. And by root of that, victory is given. Triumph is accomplished. We have as well the incident of Peter. the church represented by this figure, too? Hesitant with regard to the claims of Christ? Drawing back? Doubtful? If it’s really you, Lord, command that I might come to you on the waters.

    The invitation is given by Christ Christ extending it to his people, they then venturing forth in their conformity to him. As Christ is on the waters, so Peter as well. As Christ is on the waters, so Peter is on the waters in his conformity to the Savior.

    The church then ventures out in confidence not taking heed to all that is contrary, the wind itself blowing, but it is unnoticed until finally it is noticed indeed. The Church is overwhelmed in her lack of faith, and she begins to sink. Christ’s admonition comes As mercy is extended to his church, and he chides her for her unbelief, how could she doubt?

    This one brings calm as he enters the boat. Progress is achieved with him on board, and the disciples acknowledge him through worship and a confession that he is truly the Son of God. That’s the story. It is a story not simply about the cycles in the first century or one of them Peter. It is a story that is meant for the church as a whole. For the entirety of her time.

    When she is separated from her Lord, he absent from her in his body, they then expected to carry on in his absence. How real that faith portrayed here. The apprehension of the Christ who comes to his people through all of the troubles that assail her, bringing to his church that confirmation of her faith that she does not in fact believe in vain. What is it that conspires to rob the church of her confidence.

    There are the waves themselves, the wind that is contrary. Very interestingly, in verse 30 we are told that Peter saw the wind. If he did, he is the first to ever. The impact of that statement, however, is to register itself upon us, because you see there is a substantial approach to the wind that Matthew intends in the telling of the story in this way. The wind was contrary, verse 24. Verse 30, Peter sees the wind.

    That is, you see, he saw all those things that were in fact contrary, and he believed the contrary things. He takes his eye off Christ, he sees the things that are contrary, set against the progress of the Church, those things that are seemingly contrary to the faith itself, and in that, you see, he is submerged. His faith fails, doubt triumphs.

    What of the Church as a whole? I will start with the collective aspects of the application of this passage. The Church as a whole, she too laboring against remarkable odds, all of the factors of nature, of the creative order, seen and unseen, conspiring against her that she not reach her appointed end, that she not make progress, that she be overwhelmed. We make the mistake, do we not, imagining that the Church of the first century was somehow, some kind of glorious assembly, innumerable in number, unable to be counted, as if it was credible occurrence comparable to what we have witnessed in our own time. Maybe church is just growing up overnight. Littlefloss, rather. That’s, you see, what was the standard of the day. The church of that day, looking at herself and saying, how can it be possible that such a little flock like this can have any impact?

    How is it ever going to be able to stand up to all the forces that conspire against her? How shall she succeed? She won’t succeed at all. It’s impossible for her to succeed. But in the midst of all of that, there comes to her that one who seems to be a ghost, a spirit, if you will, disembodied. as if he in the spirit comes to her to convince her of the triumph that is hers, that is assured to her.

    In her missionary activities, she sends them out to the ends of the earth, the known world at that time. What about today, the ends of the earth now? What about Japan, a land that has been particularly Resistance to the message of the gospel will be a penetration. What can we look for as the church sits in the midst of that land? Any kind of success whatsoever are not the fees of this world and the wind. Contrary there will the church be victorious? Yes, you shall. Yes, you should. You take stock of your own denomination. The Orthodox Church, the Syrian Church, you look at her, you say, nothing spectacular here, there’s nothing to delay over long years.

    Why in the world would I throw in my lot with that sorry lot of people? Why would I throw in my lot with something spectacular, something that can extend to assurances that I’m part of something that is making a difference in the world. Why in the world would I ever give myself to such an enterprise as that?

    And what of yourselves? If we start with the Church as a whole and move on to the individual, if you are a leader of these folks, that’s another step down in the water. which is battering waves in a contrary way. What about humans and their own personal lives? You know, beings have tried to say what I can do, and no one controls it. Aren’t we weird? Only if you look at that one who comes to you upon the race and has the power without a boat to stay afloat. I think even Robert Schiller would have liked that. All right. In the midst of it all, he extends a hand to you even though you faltered. He grabs you and you cry out, Lord save me. And he’s faithful to do just that. There comes, though, his interrogation of you and your faith has faltered. Why did you doubt? Why did you doubt? Don’t you know I love you?

    Well, whether you’re In the desolated place, or on the sea, in either circumstance, Jesus absent in his body, in his flesh, be assured of your triumph nonetheless. You by faith endure. You by faith are saved. O Lord, we ask you that with regard to your Church we would have confidence and hope. With regard to ourselves, nothing less. The assurances afforded us through Christ would be even more and more confirmed in our souls. We would be content to live by faith. All the things may be contrary to us, but Lord, we know with you, we shall triumph. 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.

  • Matthew’s Doubling

    Matthew’s Doubling

    This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Misc. Matthew sermons” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, June 23, 1985.

    About this sermon

    Application-heavy preaching misses Matthew’s literary habits, especially his repeated doubling. Two epochs, Christ in the flesh and Christ in the Spirit, structure the Gospel. The doubled calling of the first disciples in 4:18-21 describes the calling of the whole church.

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    Sermon transcript

    Walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who was called Peter, and Andrew, his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And he said unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. And going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James, the son of Zebedee, and John, his brother, in a boat with Zebedee, their father, mending their nets, and he called them.” Father, we would receive from you that which you have delighted in giving, namely the word of life. May it come to us as bread for our nourishment, and by it may we be empowered so as to live for you, for Jesus said. Amen.

    What do you think I’m doing here? What kind of job description would you give for me? Now it’s become the habit of some to look at the pastor of a congregation as something like a corporate executive. His major task is to deal in coordination. His responsibility is to make sure that things are run efficiently. He is to oversee the various activities and programs of the Church Corporation, and to make sure that as few as possible are offended, and as few toes are stepped on as possible. Well, am I a corporate executive?

    Some of you who know me well laugh There is another approach to the pastor, however. I wouldn’t have thought that we needed to consider this within an Orthodox Presbyterian Church until recently I heard an Orthodox Presbyterian minister speak of the pastorate in these terms. He saw the pastorate for the minister in the pastorate in athletic terms. The pastor in his mind was a coach.

    And he was to get the best team out on the field. Extending the image of it, it seems as if the coach has multiple tasks. not just running the show, organizing the team, but he is also the primary cheerleader. It’s as if he was conducting a pep rally and his job was to convince you that you really can win. and to motivate you to do nothing less. Am I a corporate executive, a coach, a tutor leader?

    My job is to preach and teach the word of God, so that you might understand that word as best as you can, so that you might understand your place in that work. There is a variation on this approach to the pastor and the ministry that is worth taking note Many in their definition would start exactly as I have. But the pastor’s job is to preach and to teach the word of God so that you might understand it as best as you are able.

    But then, as they go on, there’s a subtle shift. They say, in conclusion, that the purpose of this preaching and teaching is in order that you might know how to apply the word of God to your life. Now, it’s a subtle shift, but I want you to feel the significance and weight of that shift.

    For the latter definition suggests to you that there is an inherent deficiency in the word. In other words, the word cannot be applied without my expertise. There is an application, you see, inherent in the word itself. And that’s why I said to you that my task is to preach and to teach the word of God, so that you might understand it as best as you are able, and might understand your place in the word. For the sufficiency and adequacy is in the word, and the word is not sufficient. One wins. My task, then, is to point you to that word in which you find your life. and out of which you must live. In order to fulfill my calling to do what I’m supposed to do.

    I am committed to the Word of God and a specific understanding and approach to it. And therefore, you see, when I come to the Word, I come to it as if it were a gold mine. And the task before me is to go down into that mine and dig gold, to bring that gold out and to present it before you, to show you just how marvelous the riches are in that Word for yourselves.

    This means that we can never be content with a mere superficial reading of the Bible. We have to dig deeply to pull out of this word all those precious gems, all that precious metal that is there for us. Now let’s take a simple passage, a passage like the one we have in front of us this morning, one that You’ve known since you were a child.

    Jesus calling two brothers, Peter and Andrew, and then, in a repeat performance, calling two more, James and John. But even here, there is a will. Even here, there is a mind to enter and treasure to be done. in looking at the test. You notice something about this passage. The two stories told are so similar. There is a mention of two brothers in each. So you have two in the first instance, Peter and Andrew two in the second, James and John, then you have the two stories themselves, as if the same story were being told all over again. It’s a multiplication of twos. It’s as if two is cubed, two times two times two. Why this multiplication of twos? If you will, why this doubling within the text?

    Now, we might not be struck by this feature of the text if it weren’t for other passages in Matthew’s gospel in which we can observe a similar phenomenon. For instance, if you were to turn to the end of the eighth chapter, the twenty-eighth verse, You will notice there a story of Jesus as he casts out demons.

    But as you read through that story, you may be struck that this doesn’t sound exactly the way I remember it. You may have in mind the recording of these events as they come to you from Mark chapter five. And in Mark chapter five, you hear about a single demoniac possessed, living amongst the tombs, Jesus comes to him and asks him what his name is, and the man responds with the voice of the demons themselves, My name is Legion.

    And then Jesus heals him. But then, returning to Matthew chapter eight, as you start that passage, You remember, you recall, you take note of the fact that here Matthew mentions not one demoniac, but two. This isn’t an isolated instance. If you go to the 9th chapter, the 27th verse, you find there Jesus not dealing with one blind man, but dealing with two blind men.

    And then in chapter 20, verse 30, the same thing occurs. In the twentieth chapter, you see a story once more, one quite familiar to us, the story of Christ’s sojourn in Jericho before he ascends up into Jerusalem to face crucifixion. In Luke, chapter 18, you find out that there is a blind man in Jericho by the name of Bartimaeus, and Jesus heals him. But then, when you turn to Matthew 20, you read that there are two blind men, and they aren’t named. There is an obvious, deliberate doubling by Matthew in his gospel.

    He deals with things in terms of truths and personages in terms of truths. Now, what does this doubling mean? Now, we’re going into the mind, and it isn’t easy to go down in the mind. So I want you to hang with me as we work through this problem. What is the intent of Matthew’s doubling? In order to understand it better, we need to take stock of another way in which Matthew presents to us his doubling intent. And he does that in terms of two individuals.

    First, John the Baptist, and then Jesus. Thinking about John the Baptist as he is treated in Matthew’s gospel, first of all, you know how he appears on the scene, you know how his ministry progresses, you know of how he is arrested and finally executed. But there is an assessment of John the Baptist by Jesus in Matthew’s gospel, and that occurs in the eleventh chapter. You may want to take a look at that. In that eleventh chapter, Jesus is rehearsing the ministry of John, and it is obvious from the eleventh verse of that eleventh chapter that John the Baptist is looked upon as one who has a restricted function.

    He is one who, yes, Amongst those born of women, there is none greater.” But then Jesus goes on to say, at the conclusion of that eleventh verse, that he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than John. And in this fashion, Jesus calls attention to the restricted function of John the Baptist. and positions John, as he truly was, as an Old Testament figure, the last of the Old Testament figures, the last of the prophets who should herald the coming of the kingdom. So that causes us to conclude that on the one hand we have John appearing in an Old Testament context as part of the Old Testament age and epoch. But there is a doubling, for having considered John from that vantage point is hardly adequate, and that is proved by what we read in verses twelve and thirteen of that eleventh chapter.

    Jesus goes on to say, and from the days of John the Baptist until now, The kingdom of God is exerting itself, and determined men are taking hold of it. So it is that John the Baptist is seen not simply as an Old Testament figure, but he is actually seen as the one in whom the New Testament age is inaugurated. It’s as if, then, the doubling is with regard to epoch. John the Baptist, straddling both, seen as an Old Testament figure, but then also as a New Testament figure. That this interpretation is correct is borne out by what we read in verse thirteen.

    For all the prophets and the law prophesied unto John and from John. From the time of John on, the kingdom has been manifest in itself. Now, that’s the doubling with regard to John the Baptist in terms of the epochs of salvation, the times of God’s dealings with his people. Now, I said as well that there’s a doubling with regard to Christ also.

    Maybe you recall a sermon preached around Christmas time on the genealogy of Jesus. He turned to the first chapter of Matthew’s gospel. You remember the opening of that gospel, the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham? From verses two through sixteen, you have three tables of names for this genealogy.

    The first one running from Abraham to David, the second from David to the captivity, and the third from the captivity to the birth of Christ. Now, at the end, in verse seventeen, you are told this. But from the time of Abraham to David, there were fourteen generations, and so it goes. From the time of David to the deportation to Babylon, there were fourteen generations. And from the time of the deportation to Babylon to the time of Christ, there are fourteen generations.

    Well, then you decide to do a little bit of figuring on your own. So you go back and you count names. And sure enough, if you read through that first section, you get fourteen names to read through the second section, you get fourteen names. You come to the last section and there are only thirteen. Now, you’ve heard me say this before or ask the question. Couldn’t Matthew count? No, you see. You see that last name. becomes the double generation. He becomes two generations at once.

    For you see, in him there is first of all a generation which he himself is, namely the generation commensurate with his life in the flesh. That time in which he lived here as the son of Mary and Joseph. that time in which he ministered, he healed and taught, that time in which he suffered, in which he was interrogated, in which he was crucified, and then was raised from the dead. There is that time. But then, as you run on to the conclusion of the gospel, you hear Jesus say, as his departing words to his disciples, and Jesus is also as much present in this epoch, the one in which we live, as He was in the epoch when He was present in His flesh and in His body.

    Jesus stands both. There is a doubling. First of all, with regard to John the Baptist He being an Old Testament figure, a New Testament figure, now with regard to Jesus, he’s spending the time, first of all, with regard to his ministry, his death and resurrection, and secondly, with regard to the time in which his church lives. You could say it like this. Jesus spends the time of his life in the flesh and also his life in the spirit. And we live in the time of Christ’s life in spirit.

    Now we have to go back and ask ourselves a question. What is the intent of Matthew’s judgment? When there are two demoniacs, when there are two blind Matthew wants you to see in those two, not just one who is there when Jesus was in the flesh, but another who is there when Jesus is in the Spirit. He wants you to see yourself in the past. You are present and being administered to. by Jesus as much as that demoniac, as much as that blind man.

    The two men then represent two epochs, the epoch of Christ’s time in the flesh and the epoch of Christ’s time in the spirit, or the age of the Church. in which you live. But what do we do with Matthew four. Here we have a compounding of two. Two times two times two. Let’s look at the past. In terms of the things we learn. Who are the first two Specifically addressed here by Jesus, the address absent when he comes to the second two.

    Who are the first two brothers to whom he says, follow me and I will make you fishers of men? In these men you are to see all who are ordained, called to draw the nations just as men draw nets to boats. having left them down for a catch of fish. Not just those who were called when Jesus was in the flesh, but a doubling, those who are called when Jesus is in the Spirit, so that you might understand that in whatever epoch you find yourself, it is the sovereign power of God through Christ who calls his disciples to himself, those who will make the disciples of the nation. But why the other two? Let me ask you this. Is this passage only about preachers? Is it only about fishermen and those who are sent to catch fish?

    The second two, James and John, become indicative of disciples. In the first instance, Peter and Andrew, you have disciples, those who are disciples. In the second two, you have the disciples. Once more, a doubling. Not just those disciples when Christ was here in the flesh, but those who are disciples when Christ is in the Spirit also. You see, the whole of the Church of Christ is in this text, in this passage. Whether they were the called to preach during the time of Christ, or those called to preach in the time of the Spirit, whether they were discipled by Jesus when Jesus was here on earth, or discipled now, as you are being discipled presently.

    You are in the passage. This is a passage as much about you as it is about Jesus. It is a passage as much about you as it is about Peter and James. To what intent? For what purpose? to confirm me in the knowledge that finally my call is from Christ. And in your case, what? That when everything has been said and done, It is the Lord Jesus who, in his sovereign, electing power, has chosen you and drawn you to himself.

    Now, what confidence is yours? What encouragement becomes yours? for you are as called as James and John, and as beloved. And Jesus is as much present with you now in the Spirit as he was with them in the flesh. In fact, your experience in Christ is much better than even theirs was. And as that experience is much better, so also should be the certainties and the assurances that are yours. This is the source of your buoyancy and your confidence. This is the source of your direction and acclimation and orientation towards life. You don’t need a corporate executive standing up here. You don’t need a coach who’s going to put out the best team on the field. You don’t need a cheerleader.

    What you need is the Bible. and someone who will tell you just how wonderful it is, and how wonderful your life is in light of that word, and someone who will tell you that this Bible is about you. Father in heaven, may we have the word of God of life.

    Father, may we see the riches that are here them out, and may we delight in what we find. May we dote upon your word, rehearse it in our hearts. May we find it to be all that you have declared it to be, the source of our life and nourishment. And Father, may we know that being fed by this word which is none other than the word of Christ, we shall never die, but rather live. Father, we pray that we might be disciples indeed, who observe all that you have commanded, in the knowledge that it has been your sovereign call that has brought us to yourself, and

    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 Prophetic Voice: Repent

    A Prophetic Voice: Repent

    This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Misc. Matthew sermons” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, April 17, 1977.

    About this sermon

    Mysticism creeping into the modern church gets a direct rebuke here, answered by recovering the church’s own prophetic mission: a call to repent rather than a call to feeling. John the Baptist, Christ, and Calvin are read together on what repentance actually means, resisting easy sentimentalized versions of the word. A separatist church, in this sense, is simply one still willing to say it.

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    Sermon transcript

    Let’s pray briefly. Father, we again acknowledge the great power of your word. Lord, we know that Jesus has told us that the word is life and spirit. Lord, we ask that in our lives that we have with Jesus Christ that we might be refreshed continually by hearing your word and understanding its intention. Let us not go from this place this morning, our God, without being confronted with the knowledge of Jesus Christ as he is revealed in that word. And may we hold on to him, our God, as that which is dear to us. For Jesus’ sake, amen.

    Today we see Occidental civilization tottering. We see intellectual activity declining with unexampled speed over a large part of the globe. We see a sensational revival of such pseudo-sciences as astrology, neo-gnosticism, racial mysticism, We see scientific methods and discoveries judged by Marxist and racist gauges instead of the independent scientific standards. In short, we are in a world which is largely like the Greco-Roman world of the first century B.C. We need reawakening of faith in the God of the majestic Theophany of Mount Sinai, in the God of Elijah’s vision at Horeb, in the God of the Jewish exiles in Babylonia, in the God of the agony at Gethsemane. We no longer know how to live. And that’s the assessment made by William Foxwell Albright, the great scholar of John Hopkins University, thirty years ago. We today see Occidental civilization tottering. We live in an age of disintegration. But what happens when those of us who say we see and understand, those of us who say we have an answer, begin to totter ourselves?

    There probably isn’t a more germane question that we can be asking ourselves right now than this. Why do we exist? And I’m talking about the church, this church, in this community. Why is it that we’re here? What are we doing? What are we trying to kill? I mean, we have part of your whole house this morning. And there are churches down the street that are packed to the gills. What are we doing here?

    Now the title of this message doesn’t appear in the bulletin, but I’d like to give it to you anyway. The Prophetic Voice and the Separatist Church is the name of this thing. And my concern has been generated by events that have happened in the past month, and what I will call my Philadelphia connection. I spent some time on the telephone, and my wife would stand there pacing, Hang up! Hang up! The bill! Well, I’ve been in contact with my Philadelphia connection.

    And the word that’s coming, it seems to me, increasingly, from the Vatican, is this. We don’t know what we’re about anymore. There are no longer those clearly defined lines that we once had in the 30s. And the reasons for our existence seem to diminish by the moment.

    Is there actually a reason for the existence of this Church and for the Separatist Church in America and in the world? Is there actually a reason for us to continue to exist? Do we have a mission? Is it legitimate? Or has the time come for us to close up shop, disband the congregation, sell the property, and march in mass down the street and rejoin the mainline churches?

    I want to analyze then for you this morning the Separatist Church in terms of what I consider her mission to be in this day, and why she exists and why she must exist if we are to have any direction in this age of disintegration. What is the Separatist Church first of all? Why did you come here? The true Separatist Church has, for Biblical reasons and in what it considers Biblical ways, separated itself from the modern ecclesiastical movement, whether it be Roman Catholic or Protestant.

    And by so doing, it has made a statement to the Church, to the world. to those who are called by Christ’s name. It is saying, you see, that the assessment of the Reformers in the 16th and 17th century was correct, that Catholicism has essentially gone bad. Yes, it says that, but it says more. It says, also, that Protestantism itself has also gone bad. and no longer can provide us with the direction that we need in understanding God’s purpose in this day.

    It’s important then for us to understand the mission of the Separatist Church in our generation, and her mission is inseparably united to the message of the prophetic word that comes to us out of the scriptures itself. It’s not something that we can invent. It’s not something that we can generate. It’s not something that we can manufacture. If we’re not upon the scriptures taking our place, if we’re not taking our foundation, setting our foundations there, we certainly don’t have any reason to exist. The mission, the ministry, of the Separatist Church in our day is the prophetic voice.

    And what does that prophetic voice say? First of all, I want to speak a word of encouragement to you in terms of that prophetic voice, and I see here that this is the heart of the epistles that Paul wrote to the churches. His intention was to edify, to build up those congregations to which he wrote, because he essentially saw those people as living in a way that was responsive to the Word of God. And if they were called into account, they would repent, turn around, and do what was commanded and asked of them by the Apostle. First of all, the prophetic voice says this, as you have received Christ Jesus for Lord, so walk in him. It is a word of encouragement then to the saints who are open to the word of God. and who desire to live in obedience to what God is saying.

    But that’s not all. There’s a second part, and this is the part that I want to deal with principally this morning. The prophetic voice is a definite call to repentance to the saints to those who are called by Christ’s name, who are not themselves submitting to the word and living in obedience to him.” Now, it’s very unfortunate that we do not understand what repentance means, for the And the reason we don’t understand it generally in the ecclesiastical scene today is because we allow ourselves to understand things generally in a Greek fashion. There’s a Greek word used in the New Testament for repentance. It’s the word metanoia. And if you literally translate that word, it comes out to something like this, change of mind.

    I used to like oranges, but now I like apples. I didn’t like spinach, but now I do. I’ve changed my mind about that. The inane quality of the illustrations that I have just given you gives you the flavor of what repentance has become today, simply a change of mind with regard to taste. I used to be a liberal Democrat, now I’m a raving, raving conservative Republican. I used to be Socratic in my philosophy, but now I’ve become an Aristotelian. I’ve changed my mind.

    And that’s the transition that goes in us, on in us, and we think by these transitions we understand what repentance is, but that’s basically a Greek concept of what repentance is. And we don’t really, seriously, think that we can apply those kind of general conceptions to the thought of repentance in the Bible, do we? The background of the scriptures is not Greek philosophy or even Greek vocabulary. The background of the scriptures is a Hebrew mindset. And if we’re going to understand what repentance is, we have to begin to conceive of it in terms of the Hebrew mind.

    We will get an idea of what it means to repent when we look at the ministry of John the Baptist. Here’s the prophetic voice speaking with regard to repentance. And what does he mean? Simply a change of mind? You used to think this about the Kingdom of God, now I want you to think this. You used to think this about your sins, now I want you to think this.

    No. John is in the wilderness for a reason. John is at the Jordan for a purpose. He is there because the Jordan and the wilderness are important in the history of mankind. And when John calls Israel to repent, he says to them, return, go back, go back to the place from which you came and start again all over again.

    That’s what repentance is. It’s a forsaking. It’s a forsaking of that world that has become so important to you. It’s going back to the wilderness where you’re stripped bare, and there’s nothing left to lean on anymore, and you’re cast completely upon God. Here he is, clothed in a garment of camel’s hair.

    Here he is, surviving on a diet of wild honey and locusts. What’s the meaning of all of that? It’s an eloquent sermon to all of Israel that true repentance means the forsaking of all of those things upon which you have become dependent, and a returning. to the origin of your faith, and starting all over again with God, completely dependent upon him, Jesus Christ is going to go out into the wilderness, and there he is going to be tempted by Satan. And he will respond to the temptations of Satan by saying, Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.

    Now there’s some characteristics, you see, of this repentance. It’s a forsaking. Forsaking of sin. A forsaking of that world that has become so important to you. Here is Israel living within the shelter of the Roman Empire. Oh, there was dissension. No one likes to be oppressed by political superiors. But for the most part, it was a period of tranquility and even prosperity for the people. The temple had been rebuilt. What else could you ask for? Even the religious order of things was in gear and in proper perspective in life.

    And here’s John the Baptist in all his audacity, standing out there on the periphery of the culture and the cult and calling the people to forsake it all, to leave it behind and to go out to him in the wilderness and to start all over again. lifestyle won’t save you. Why is John saying this?

    He’s saying this because you see, God through him is telling all of Israel, the temple ain’t going to save you. And neither is the tranquility and prosperity that you have come to depend on so much. There is an unquenchable fire. And this temple which you trust in so much, Jesus Christ himself will say, they will not be left one stone standing upon the other.

    The call, you see, is to the covenant people of God. It isn’t a matter simply of just isolated automatons coming down to the waters of the Jordan separately to experience John’s baptism. It’s a call to all of Israel, all of those who are called by God’s name to come out The context and the scope of it all is the covenant perspective, the dimensions of the entire people of God called upon to respond to this prophetic voice. And what have we done to repentance today? What has repentance become in our culture, in our church, in the religious life of this generation?

    There is no catharsis. There is no crisis. There is no return to the historical roots acknowledging sinfulness. There is no going back and forsaking. There is no call to the people that you must leave behind all the things that you’ve come to lean on so dependently. There’s no call to a new lifestyle, a transformation entirely.

    What do we do to them? We get them coming down one by one in our crusades. We get them coming down in all of our evangelistic services. And then we tell them, after they’ve made their profession and signed their names on the dotted line, go back into your churches.

    Doesn’t matter. that your church is part of the problem. It doesn’t matter that when you go back there, you’re going to have to sit on your ministry when you talk, that there are errors in God’s Word, and that Jesus Christ’s substitutionary death on the cross is appealing. that the resurrection is not a fact of history, but an experience in the mind. And the most important role that the Church can play in our generation is the role of priests of the culture. giving the establishment the religious sanction that they need to do what they need to do. That’s what repentance has become.

    And repentance, you see, because of this has no covenantal dimensions. It’s not thought of in terms of the whole people of God anymore. It is an atomistic experience. And something that basically happens individually and internally, something inside your mind between you and God alone, when you begin to reassess your attitudes towards the woman who happens to live next door, when you begin to reassess your attitudes towards your income tax upon which you just budged, And that becomes the scope of it. And that’s all it ever does. It’s not a comprehensive call to the people of God to forsake the world and the life to which they’ve become accustomed, the things that they take for granted, and to return and to begin all over again, forsaking sin, turning to God. The Father of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, is not that anymore. And things continue to go on as they have been going on. And nothing does seem to be any different.

    But you have repented! And how do I know? Because you’re sitting here this morning. You’ve taken your stand. And you have gone back to start again. Now, we can compare the calls to repentance throughout the Old Testament and the New Testament. The prophets of the Old Testament were calling upon Israel to return, to go back to the God of Sinai, to meet him once more and to proceed from that point. living in righteousness and not in unrighteousness anymore. And we have the call of Jesus Christ himself declared to us through John, who writes the book of the Revelation, the second chapter. You have it recorded for you there.

    Jesus is speaking to the church at Ephesus, that church in Asia Minor. He says to them, I have something against you because you have forsaken, you have left your first love. Therefore repent. What does he mean? He means go back to your first love and start again. That’s the essence of the call to repentance of Christ himself as he speaks to the Church at Ephesus. Go back and start again. And is that not the essence of the reformational call to repentance to the entire people of God?

    They spoke to the Church that they loved. They didn’t want to leave. Calvin wrote his Institutes to Francis I, the King, the Catholic King of France. begging him, entreating him to listen to him. The overture was simply this, return, return to the church of the apostles and prophets with Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. Forsake the traditions that have become so important, the incredible structure of civilization that is decaying around your ear. The fact that people have placed so much in so little that is of any consequence at all.

    Now that reformational call, you see, was a decision on the part of the reformers with regard to the state of the Church in its day. And the prophetic call was the call of repentance to all the people of God, the Israel of God, if you were, to return to their origin. acknowledging Jesus Christ and the Word of God as being sole authority.

    And that’s precisely what’s happening in our own generation. In this century, the century in which you live now, that precise thing has taken place. It’s happened all over again. But our eyes now are not directed towards the medieval church. Our eyes are directed towards the 20th century Protestant establishment. And our declaration is this. Repent. Come out from among them. Be separate. Go back, return, start again. For only this is life.

    Our call is a call to return to all of God’s people. Our call is a call that they might renounce the cult and the culture upon which they themselves have become so dependent Their budgets have grown, and the adorning of their churches and sanctuaries, the structures have increased and expanded. They are part of the world. Our mission then, our mission in the Separatist Church is this prophetic voice and call to repentance and a return on the part of all of those called by God’s name in our generation.

    We can’t return to embrace the medieval church Why is it that we cannot return to Rome as some are encouraging us to do? Why is it? We can’t do that, you see, because there hasn’t been any repentance. They haven’t returned. Our call to repentance in our own generation cannot be stilled, and we cannot walk back that road. We can’t go down Beaver Road here and rejoin the main churches until there is repentance.

    That’s our might. If we forsake it, we’re dead. There’s no reason left for our existence at all until They hear the voice, and respond, and repent themselves, and return to the God they claim to worship. I’m not overstating the case, and I know that there are even many within my own denomination that would say to you this morning that I am overstating the case. But the day is gone.

    The thirties are over. Now the opportunity has come for us to walk down the roads and to join hands once more with those people who have not acknowledged the error of their communions. They threw a man out of their church unjustly, his name was Machen, and they’ve never to this day, not a one of them repented of that. They threw Calvin and Luther out of their church, and to this day, even though they might sing Luther’s hymns in their church services, they have not repented and returned themselves that medieval church.

    As long as there’s no repentance, we cannot go back, and you might think that that’s hard-hearted. That’s not hard-hearted. That’s an act of concrete love. If you believe that repentance is unto life, apart from that repentance there awaits only unquenchable fire for those who do not. We, with love in our hearts, must go begging and constraining these people whom we love ourselves, and we know it’s true because they’re members of our own families, to come out and to repent because they are entrenched in a system that is under God’s judgment.

    And if we forsake this prophetic voice in our day, what prophetic voice is left? And what opportunity for life remains for those who are going down with the ship? None. No. How do I know the inevitable result of the unwillingness to repent? The Ephesian church was a strong church when Paul wrote to it his letter. By the time John addressed to them his word in the book of Revelation, that church was in decline. Go to Asia Minor today. Do you think you can find a church at Ephesus? It’s not there. It’s not there. And that is a lesson to every one of us. of the sureness of God’s judgment.

    1536. John Calvin is a young scholar. He stayed at Geneva because of the pleadings of Pharrell. Words come from Lausanne. that a group of Roman Catholic monks want to debate the doctrine of the Lord’s Supper, the doctrine of the Mass. Pharrell responds, and he takes young Calvin with him, and the debate continues for days, and Calvin sits and says nothing. Occasionally he writes a word here and there, takes a note, But he’s silent, he says nothing.

    And after many days, one of the monks arrives and he makes an impassioned plea, claiming Augustine as his authority for the doctrine of the Mass and the doctrine of transubstantiation in the Mass, but that was actually Augustine’s position. It was an impassioned plea to be sure, a great sermon. But when it was done, Calvin arose. And it appeared that all of those nights without sleep and all of that time that he spent passing by his meals in order to study and cram his mind with the facts of the early Church fathers was certainly beneficial. He was a mastermind, to be sure, but he was certainly interested in the truth, and he stood in the midst of that assembly and began to speak quotation after quotation, not just alluding to quotations, but actually giving the quotations in their entirety, one after another, right out of Augustine, piled on top of one another, a true avalanche, and the monk was buried underneath of it all. because he could not stand that it was evident at the conclusion that Calvin had demonstrated that Augustine had never held to the doctrine of transubstantiation in the mass. The effect of it all, you see, was not upon that monk himself, but one Roman Catholic preacher who was standing on the periphery of it all, a man respected among them, who had strongly supported the Church against the Reformers.

    He arose with tears in his eyes. He was drained by what he had heard. He walked into the midst of the assembly, and there, casting his eyes to the ground, not even able to look up, he said to those people, I repent.

    I thought that my church was right. And what it told me was right. It’s wrong. And I know it. For such days as that, we all can pray. When people we love so dearly, themselves will stand in front of us, or even among us, and say, I repent. I was wrong. And you were right. God help us.

    Our Father in Heaven, we would not ever claim to stand because we are some sort of special people who have a corner on the truth. But only our God, as we have accepted the prophetic word ourselves and repented, and gone back to begin again, building upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. Forgive us, our Father, in not allowing that clear voice of repentance to be heard today. Father, encourage us when we have contact with those who as yet do not see the issue. May we have patience and love, but may we be unbending with regard to the truth. This is our message and our mission. We are calling all of the people of God, all the Israel of God, everyone called by the name of Jesus Christ, to return, to begin again, this time solidly based upon the foundation of the word of God. Will you help us so that we will not compromise?

    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.