This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Considering the Church” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, May 29, 1994.
About this sermon
The Word of God is the only standard for judging a ministry, and Micah, Jesus, and Paul each contended with false prophets who offered something easier. The true gospel does not flatter its hearers. In every case, the humility of the cross marks genuine ministry.
Sermon transcript
This morning we are reading from Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians. We are at chapter 4, and we are beginning at verse 1. This is 2 Corinthians chapter 4, beginning at verse 1. Give your attention to the word of God. Therefore, seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not. but have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness or handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.
But if our gospel is hid, it is hid to them that are lost, in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not. lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves as your bond slaves for Jesus’ sake. For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. We have this treasure in earthen vessels. that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us.
We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed. We are perplexed, but not in despair, persecuted, but not forsaken, cast down, but not destroyed, always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. So then, death worketh in us, but life in you.
We, having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore I have spoken. We also believe and therefore speak, knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you.
For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might, through the thanksgiving of many, be redounded to the glory of God. For which cause we think not, that though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”
Father, with hearts that are filled with gratitude, we acknowledge that we are sinners saved by grace. We look to the cross of our Savior, and we delight once more to think about what was necessary in bringing us to salvation. and the magnificence of grace exhibited in the cross of our Lord. Help us, our Father, that we, your people, might be those that demonstrate in every way possible the words of our mouth, the deeds of our hands, the fact that we have been bought with a price, that we are not our own. that Jesus Christ has given his life that our sins might be forgiven, in order that we might be redeemed and brought to glory. We pray that we, in hearing your word and meditating upon it, can be strengthened in our grit with respect to the things of the gospel which we love. We pray these things in Jesus’ name. Amen.
How can we determine a valid ministry? We have been considering the Church, and we have come to that point in our consideration of the Church. to those matters that pertain to the gospel ministry, the ministry of the Word. We have been looking at Paul’s reflection on these matters in his second letter to the Corinthians. We asked ourselves this morning, how can we determine a valid ministry?
How do we recognize a minister genuinely called by God? In the book of Deuteronomy, God, through his servant Moses, set out some criteria for determining a genuine prophet. I think that we all recognize that there are differences between prophets so identified in the Word of God, and those who have taken up the ordinary ministry of the Word and carry on that ministry in the life of the Church. Nevertheless, consideration of the criteria given us by God through Moses in Deuteronomy may prove helpful to us in understanding better What constitutes a valid ministry? How we might recognize a minister genuinely called by God. Now, one passage that I have in mind is that in Deuteronomy chapter 13, verses 1 through 5. This is Deuteronomy chapter 13, verses 1 through 5.
And here, God, through Moses, addresses the question of the false prophet. Of course, setting in contrast, then, one who would be a true prophet of the Lord. But the Lord here is setting before us this question of the false prophet, and the quandary and confusion generated when such an individual carries in so many ways what seem to be the proper criteria. You will know how that chapter begins if you have it open in front of you. This one, The False Prophet, lays claim to knowledge concerning the mysteries, and in keeping with the title he claims, namely that he is a prophet, He tells forth these mysteries and their significance. That’s, in fact, what the word prophet means. It means to tell forth. You will note also, in this thirteenth chapter of Deuteronomy, that this individual is described as a dreamer of dreams. That is, he is a visionary.
We are not strangers to those who claim to be visionaries. They see things that others don’t. They know the meanings of those things that appear in their consciousness when they are asleep or otherwise. Possibly these individuals were given to swoons—swoons of spiritual excitement, such spiritual excitement that could be confused, easily confused, with a piety, an intensity, a zeal, that would characterize even those who are truly called God.
So you see, the individual set in front of you is no ordinary figure. This person is extraordinary to be sure. We are even told that this individual, this false prophet, is capable of signs and wonders. Having such apparent miraculous ability, that his identity as a messenger of God seems to be irrefutably confirmed. He has the power of signs and wonders. Not only does this individual tell forth the mysteries, but he also particularly, it seems, with respect to these signs and wonders, foretells. He not only tells forth, but he foretells his finds and wonders, relating them to the immediate future as events that he has prophesied come to pass.
Such individuals as these are more than a curiosity among the people of God. These have the power, the capability, of actually attracting large crowds to themselves, large followings, and they prove to be a genuine threat to the people of God in their religious integrity. One thing to which the Lord calls attention in this passage, in order that his people may be sufficiently warned, despite the claims of the false prophet to endowment by way of divine sources, despite the claims to office that the individual may boast of despite the dreams, the signs, the wonders, despite the prophecies that actually have come true. The one thing which in this text the Lord calls attention to, in order that his people may be sufficiently warned, is the spiritual compromise that is discerned in these individuals.
If this man, the false prophet, serves other gods and suggests that the people of God do the same, then you are not to listen to him. In verse 5 of that thirteenth chapter, the Lord goes even further to spell out the nature of the offense of this individual. He says that such a person has counseled rebellion against the Lord. Now, it is difficult to imagine a greater crime than counseling rebellion against the Lord.
But in order that such a crime against God be set in even sharper relief, Moses makes it plain that those refusing to follow the false prophet be they that perceptive, must persist, must persist in giving their full attention and allegiance to the genuine Word of God as that Word comes to them from God’s true servants. All of this in this text. So now stressed in this particular passage is the importance of the Word of God as you think about the genuineness and the validity of the claims of such individuals who might rise within the people of the Lord. So important is the word of God in this context that comment on it provides introduction to the subject of the false prophet as you meet that false prophet in the thirteenth chapter.
I have in mind the last verse of chapter twelve. You shall be careful to do. You shall not add to nor take away from it.” Now, you combine that statement at the end of chapter 12 with what you find in the fourth verse of that thirteenth chapter, which reads this way, “‘You shall follow the Lord your God and fear Him. You shall keep His commandments, listen to His voice, serve Him, and cling to Him.
So then, in determining a valid ministry, in recognizing a minister genuinely called by God, it is a matter then of us being perceptive enough to reject those who propose religious compromise, redirection, or even betrayal. But at the same time, a matter for us of embracing not only the Lord, but those whom the Lord has given. that his word might come to us, making its claim upon us, and that exclusively.
But this isn’t all that Deuteronomy has to say on the subject. There is a parallel text in Deuteronomy chapter 18, verses 9 through 22. This text follows the same line as the previous passage. At this time, the passage ends with the false prophet, again a subject for discussion here in Deuteronomy 18. The passage ends with that prophet spoken of as one who speaks presumptuously. against the background of God’s promise to raise up true prophets like He had in Moses—you can find that referred to in this text—or even the true prophet. A statement there that refers to the eventuality of the one great prophet coming for God’s people, namely the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. But against this backward now of God’s promise to raise up true prophets, the Lord warns Israel about the presumptuous prophet, that is, the man who speaks in God’s name without any warrant from the Lord.
Verse 20 of that 18th chapter. But how shall the people of God be able to identify the presumptuous prophet? Verse 21. It is particularly difficult. In view is not the man who speaks explicitly in the name of other gods, as in chapter 13, although such an individual is referred to in this context, but instead in view is that man who speaks in the Lord’s name, and that exclusively, but has presumed to himself office and authority amongst God’s people. Verse 22 of that 18th chapter tells us that this man is exposed when his words fail. When his words fail.
The people of God, they are told, need not fear such an individual. merely relating what we find in these Deuteronomy texts to the ministry of the Word, we may feel that we have the criteria we need for assessing the genuineness of a ministry. Is it religiously pure? Refusing to mix devotion to the true God with devotion to any other God or any other religious tradition. Maybe you were interested, as I was, in reading this one page of yesterday’s Post Gazette with respect to the Roman Catholic catechism just passed. You may have noticed one of the questions and answers that were set out there on the front page of the paper. In that catechism, the Roman Church declares that the plan of salvation includes all who believe in the Creator, most specifically those who are adherents to Islam.
So we ask the question, is the ministry religiously pure? Does it refuse to mix devotion to the true God with devotion to any other God or any other religious tradition? Further? Does this ministry restrict itself to the pure and unadulterated Word of God, refusing to add to or subtract from that Word?
Do you realize that this is your heritage as Orthodox Presbyterians? I mean, in this very century in which you live, there is a church that has taken a stand for the pure, unadulterated Word of God, refusing to add to that Word or to subtract from it. Now, this is not to suggest that the Orthodox Presbyterian Church is the only church that has done that. Indeed, the anagram OPC does not stand for the only pure church. But when the Orthodox Presbyterian Church was formed in 1936, the stand was taken by nation and others then against those liberals who were subtracting from the Word of God, who had removed large tracts from God’s Word, and that even according to their convenience. It wasn’t a year before the Church was faced with the opposite challenge, for the fundamentalists wanted to add to the Word and place upon the conscience of Christians restrictions that were nowhere definitive or advocated in the Word.
Well, you might ask then, does the ministry restrict itself to the pure and unadulterated word of God? Does it refuse to add to or to subtract from that word? You might well pray to God that you have discernment to know when someone is adding to it or subtracting from it.
Furthermore, does this ministry stand in the line of that true ministry of the Word that has, as it’s claimed, the fulfillment of the sure and certain promises of God? I will not hesitate at this point to suggest to you that the true ministry of the Word is properly Biblical, theological, and redemptive historical. It is beyond me. It is beyond what I can fathom that there now rises within even the Orthodox Presbyterian Church those who suggest to us that biblical theology is out of bounds, that the redemptive historical approach to Scripture is out of bounds. We are covenantal, and that in consistency with that which we have seen in the true ministry of the Word.
It claims, you see. the fulfillment of God’s sure and certain promises in their covenantal form. Now, without a doubt, the criteria from Deuteronomy when related to the gospel ministry are very helpful to us in assessing a ministry’s validity. Still, there remains the difficulty that subsequent revelation concerns itself with such a difficulty so as to make clear the particular character of the Deuteronomy prescriptions. Let us consider, for instance, suppose you have a prophet who speaks only in the name of the Lord, who appeals exclusively to the law, to the Scriptures, and his prophecy apparently comes true, he’s standing in line with the tried-and-true ministry of the Word with respect to the sure and certain promises of God.
But at the same time, this individual is labeled in the Word a false prophet. Suppose you have all the criteria seemingly met, and yet this individual who carries this criteria as part of his portfolio is identified as a false prophet. Can you be blamed for following him?
This is the situation, as some have understood it, faced by the early 8th century prophet Micah. Now, we don’t have time this morning to go into all the details of Micah’s situation or his prophecy. You’re going to have to trust me a little bit here. But there were false prophets in Micah’s day, and they are a major consideration in his prophecy. But you should know that these false prophets are presented in that prophecy as devout Israelites.
They are presented even as defenders of the traditions. They are committed to the covenant, so committed to the covenant that they are certain that God’s promise to David and the eternal character of the throne given to David will never be overturned. They extend that to Jerusalem and Jerusalem’s present circumstance. Jerusalem cannot be destroyed The city cannot be razed to the ground by the invader. The covenant is certain. So confident were these of that covenant and the promises that they had no difficulty withstanding Micah.
Micah was in the minority. Micah had brought a message about the destruction of Jerusalem. Now, consider the predicament. When the Assyrians invaded Judah and laid siege to Jerusalem, and Jerusalem was spared, who appears to be the false prophet? Micah. He said the city was going to be destroyed. The city was spared.
The ones that appear to be the true prophets are those who are identified in the Word as the false prophets. Is this getting confusing, or what? Micah anticipates Jesus Christ himself. For Jesus also faces those who speak only in the Lord’s name, those who are devout in their defense of the law, who claim the covenant. And even in the face of Jesus’ claims about the coming of the kingdom, the destruction of the temple, and the city of Jerusalem appear true, while Jesus appears false.
Paul had similar problems with the enemies he faces within the Church. Those who said they had the true ministry, Paul’s ministry was false. Paul was specifically up against it in Corinth. But now, as we come to the fourth chapter of 2 Corinthians, there is set before us a wider consideration. that carries us beyond even the Deuteronomy criteria for assessing valid and genuine ministry. Note the language of Paul in the fourth chapter of 2 Corinthians. He speaks about being a bond slave to the Corinthians. Does that sound like language that false apostles have used?
He speaks about having the treasure of his most excellent ministry in an earthen vessel, thus underscoring his weakness. He says that this surpassing greatness of the power might be of God, not from himself. Verse 7. He speaks about being afflicted, about being perplexed, about being persecuted, struck about carrying about in his body the dying of Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be seen in his body, verses 8 through 10. And he says, somewhat climatically, in verse 12, that death is at work in him, so that life might be at work in the Corinthians.
What is it that he is specifically lacking, then? in these opponents of Paul, in these that are taking pop shots at him, trying to undermine his authority and his ministry? Is it not that which expresses itself specifically in the humility evidence in the man? But this is no ordinary humility, you see. For what Paul is endeavouring to bring to expression here is the humility that is specifically attached to the cross. And it is this, then, that is lacking in Paul’s opponent’s ministry. It is the cross. There is no room for it. There is no room for suffering. There is no room for humiliation. There isn’t even any room for repentance.
The very cross, then, by which Paul is enabled to lead those whom he serves, is the cross of Jesus Christ coming to expression in him. And by that cross, he is enabled, then, in this ministry, to lead these people to whom he is bound, whom he loves through humiliation, through repentance, through suffering, to the eternal And do you know how Paul presses on in this chapter to consider the eternal things? Is that not how he ends in verse 18?
Yes, to be sure, true ministry then insists upon the undiluted truth of biblical religion, no compromise. Yes, to be sure, true ministry insists upon the absolute veracity and sufficiency of the Scriptures. True ministry is crystal clear about the certainty of God’s promises, but that ministry also insists on the character generated by the Holy Spirit, whereby the very form of Jesus Christ, our Savior, is seen in him who is called to minister. The false prophet, the minister who fails with respect to his supposed calling, is the one who is either incapable of, or who rejects the cross and its humiliation and sufferings, and forgets about the eternal things. The true minister labors in order that the light of the glory of God from the face of Jesus Christ might shine upon those who are the objects of ministry.
And that, not for a moment, but for eternity. Actually, it is nothing short of this that shines in Micah, the 8th century prophet. lending itself then to the confirmation of his ministry, though he stood alone. This fact borne out by a careful reading of his prophecy. But if the truth be told, nothing less than this, in fact, nothing less than the sufferings of Christ were coming to expression in Moses, the one who was used by God to write down Deuteronomy. as he, the meekest man in all the earth, not only chose the reproaches of Christ, so says Hebrews 11, instead of the riches of Egypt, but who, like Christ, even prefiguring Christ, bore the burdens of the people and interceded for them in such a way so as to prepare them for Jesus, their true and faithful minister. How would you then know a true minister if you saw one?
Integrity with regard to biblical religion, no compromise. Commitment to the word without drawing back. Devotion to the sure and certain promises of your covenant God. But also a realization that a true ministry is one that is capable of leading you through humiliation, suffering, even repentance, and then to glory. True ministry has as its center the death and resurrection of Jesus, your Lord.
Father, may it please you to grant to your church. Those truly called. Who are not only informed by the criteria laid out in Deuteronomy. But also see in Moses the pattern of one to come. Help your church with respect to true ministry, lest they be confused, as in the days of Micah.
May your people then, as you elect did then, perceive in your servants the form of Jesus Christ. And may it be, O God, that we would evaluate all who would lay claim to office, that we would evaluate all by the cross and resurrection of our Savior. We know our Father that if there is to be valid and genuine ministry for your people, it must come in and through Him. So may it be, Lord. So may it be here in this congregation. And so may it be, Lord, for many, many, many congregations throughout the world in this present hour. We pray this in Christ’s name. Amen.
The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.