Show Us the Father

“Philip said to him, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.’  Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip?  Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.  How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?  Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?  The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works.  Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.’”  John 14:8-11

          Philip’s request represents the desire of every true believer in God.  “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.”  Yet, at the same time, when this request is addressed to God incarnate, it is a case in missing the point.  Jesus responds, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip?  Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.  How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?”  Philip should have known that the fullness of deity dwells in Christ bodily (Colossians 2:9) and that although no one has ever seen God, he is the only God, who is at the Father’s side, who has made him known (John 1:18).  Jesus continues: “Do you not believe that I am in the Father and that the Father is in me?”  Theologians call this reality the mutual indwelling of the Father and the Son.  The oneness of the Father and Son does not obscure the distinction of their persons but highlights the union of their essence.  The Father and Son are one God; so they mutually indwell one another with regard to the union of nature between them.  To see the Son is to see the Father in the sense that they share the same divine essence.  Jesus is the invisible God made visible.  He is the image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15), the Word made flesh (John 1:14). 

          Jesus teaches his disciples that both his words and his works testify to his oneness with God the Father.  Verse 10b is key:  “The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works.”  God the Father speaks through God the Son and confirms his own words with his supernatural works.  His miraculous works authenticated the divine origin of his message.  Although it is best to take the words of Jesus at face value, Jesus says, “Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves” (v. 11).  The works should strengthen our faith that the words of Jesus are the words of God.  This is why the miracles of Jesus are called “signs” in the Gospel of John.  They signify that Jesus is God’s Son and the source of eternal life.  John 20:30-31 says, “Now Jesus did many signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”  Jesus shows us the Father.  If we want to know God the Father, then we must only look at Jesus Christ who makes him known to us.  “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, who he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world” (Hebrews 1:1-2).  This message of salvation “was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will” (Hebrews 2:3-4). 

          The only way to a deeper knowledge and communion with God the Father is through God the Son.  We sing, “O come to the Father through Jesus the Son!”  If our hearts say, “Show us the Father,” let us look to Jesus who is revealed to us in the Scriptures.  We have sure and certain knowledge of God the Father in him for the Father is in him and he is in the Father.  To see him is to see the Father.  There is no more of the Father to be found outside of the Lord Jesus.  May God open the eyes of our hearts to see the true revelation of God the Father in the Lord Jesus who remains a distinct person from the Father yet shares in his same single and undivided divine essence!

When Jesus Opens Our Eyes

Here is my sermon manuscript from this past Sunday.  The sermon text was Luke 24:13-35 where the risen Jesus appears to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus.  

Sometimes we cannot see what is directly in front of us.  This often happens when we misplace our car keys.  We look on the kitchen table and do not see them.  So then we go searching on night stands, coffee tables, and perhaps even underneath the couch.  Later we realize that the keys were on the kitchen table all along.  We had overlooked them.  Have you had that experience? 

Sometimes the same thing happens with Jesus.  He is right in front of us, but our eyes are closed to his living presence.  That’s what happened to these two disciples on the road to Emmaus.  Jesus was there with them, but they did not recognize that it was Jesus.  We read that their eyes were closed in verse 16, and it is not until verse 31 that their eyes are opened to see him for who he truly is.

The great cause of sadness and hopelessness in the world today is that the eyes of our hearts are closed to the resurrection of Jesus.  I am not talking about seeing Jesus physically, but I am talking about the fact that there are many who do not recognize the he is alive and able to give joy and hope.  The good news of this passage is that

Jesus opens our eyes to his resurrection 

and gives us joy and hope.

This morning I want us to look at this passage in two major sections.  First, I want us to look at verses 13-24 and see what we can learn about what life is like when our eyes are closed to the resurrection of Jesus.  Second, I want us to look at verses 25-35 and see what we can learn about how Jesus opens our eyes and gives us joy and hope.

1.  When our eyes are closed (vv. 13-24).

Sometimes our eyes are closed to the resurrection of Jesus.  This passage is a window into what life is like when we do not recognize that Jesus is alive. 

The first lesson we learn in this passage is that when our eyes are closed to the resurrection of Jesus, we are sad (vv. 13-17). 

The narrative begins with two disciples who are on the road from Jerusalem to Emmaus.  As they walk side by side they discuss all that has happened from Good Friday until Easter morning. 

Luke doesn’t tell us exactly what they discussed, but we might imagine them talking about the darkness of human depravity that casts its shadow over the end of Passion Week. 

Perhaps they spoke about the depravity of Judas’s betrayal of Christ for only thirty pieces of silver.  Or maybe they spoke about Peter’s three denials of Christ and how the rest of the disciples deserted him.  They may have discussed how the Sanhedrin had lied about him, how Pilate had refused to release an innocent man, and how the drunken Roman soldiers had mocked him and nailed his hands and feet to the cross. 

They had heard that the women discovered the empty tomb and claimed to have seen angels.  Perhaps they asked themselves, “Is it true?  Could Jesus really have risen from the dead, as he said?” 

What we do know is that when Jesus approaches, they do not recognize him (v. 16).  Some commentators suggest that they didn’t recognize him because he looked different in his resurrection body.  Others suggest that Jesus didn’t look different but that God kept their eyes from recognizing him in order to teach them an important lesson.  It may be that they simply didn’t recognize him because they didn’t expect to see him alive. 

When Jesus asks these two disciples what they are discussing, Luke tells us that “they stood still, looking sad” (v. 17).  They looked sad because they were still living in the darkness of Good Friday. 

We learn from this that the cross of Christ is only good news in light of the resurrection.  The death of Christ will only make us sad if he didn’t in fact rise again. 

Paul once wrote to the Corinthians and made the same point: “If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied” (1 Corinthians 15:19).  Many people in our culture today have their eyes closed to the resurrection of Jesus, and, as a result, their hearts are full of sadness.  For them, death is the end of the story.  Death gets the last word.  Death means, “Game Over.” 

When our eyes are closed to the resurrection of Jesus, we are sad.  Are you sad today?  Are you living with the impression that death is the end?  Or you living as if there is no hope for tomorrow?  Are you still dwelling on the depravity of Good Friday?  Even as disciples, we can live like this at times.  But we see here in this narrative that closed eyes not only brings sadness.    

We see also that when our eyes are closed to the resurrection of Jesus, we have an imcomplete understanding of Jesus (vv. 18-20). 

Cleopas is the one who responds to Jesus’s question about what they were discussing.  His response to Jesus is certainly accurate, but there is something missing.  He says, “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?”  Jesus entertains Cleopas’s question: “What things?” he asks.  The two disciples continue: “Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him” (vv. 18-20). 

Now we all should agree that Cleopas’s explanation of Jesus is certainly accurate, but, at the same time, it is also inadequate.  It is an incomplete answer. 

Jesus is a prophet.  Jesus was condemned to death.  But he is so much more than a martyred prophet.  However, since their eyes are closed to the resurrection, they cannot see him as anything more. 

The same thing happens today.  There are people whose eyes are closed to Jesus yet they will affirm that Jesus was a good moral teacher.  They will affirm the Golden Rule.  We should follow the example of Jesus and be good people.  All of this is true yet we know that it is incomplete.  Jesus is more than a good moral teacher.  Yet when we remain in the darkness about the resurrection, that is all that we see of him. 

There’s more.  As we continue to read their response to Jesus, we see that when our eyes are closed to the resurrection, we are without the hope of redemption (v. 21). 

Verse 21 are some of the saddest words in the whole Bible.  Look what they say: “But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened.” 

We can hear the disciples's deep disappointment in these words.  We had hoped.  The book of Proverbs tells us that hope deferred makes the heart sick.  Their hearts were sick with sadness because they recognized that a dead Jesus was no Savior at all. 

They were, in point of fact, correct about that.  If Jesus is still in the tomb, we all should say, “We had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel.”  If Jesus is dead, then he is no Savior at all.  Long ago, Job said, “I know that my Redeemer lives” (Job 19:25).  The God of Israel had promised a living Redeemer, not a dead prophet. 

Matthew Henry puts their disappointment in other words: “Our hopes were all nailed to his cross, and buried in his grave.” 

When our eyes are closed to the resurrection of Jesus, we have no hope of redemption.  We need a living Savior.  We need the One who has died, but is now alive forevermore.  When our eyes are shut to the resurrection of Jesus, we see our sins and have no hope that we will ever be delivered from them.  We are who we are.  There is no hope of new life or change.          

There is another aspect to having our eyes shut to Jesus.  We are unsure what to believe (vv. 22-24). 

We see this in the disciples’ report of the empty tomb.  They tell of the women’s story.  They had found the tomb empty.  They had seen angels.  Some of the disciples had gone to the tomb and fount it empty. 

Yet there is a hint of doubt at the end of all they say in verse 24: “…but him they did not see.”  They have not yet seen Jesus. 

An empty tomb does not prove that he is alive.  Someone may have stolen the body.  He may have been moved.  They do not jump to the conclusion that Jesus is alive simply because of the report of some emotional women. 

Here is where they linger: “him they did not see.”  That is what it is like not to see Jesus for who he is.  We are confused about what we believe.  We may linger between two different opinions.  We may look out and hear the claims that the different philosophies and religions are making and have no living faith in a living Christ. 

Is that what life is like for you?  Are your eyes closed to a living Jesus?  Are you confused about what to believe?  Do you feel like you cannot trust anyone?  That can change for you, but only if Jesus opens your eyes to his resurrection life.   

Now here enters the good news found in the second half of this narrative.  Jesus is able to open our eyes to his resurrection and give us joy and hope.  He is able to turn our sadness to joy, our despair to hope, our death to life, our darkness to light, and our confusion to clarity.  Look with me at the second half of this narrative at how Jesus opens our eyes.

2.  When Jesus opens our eyes (vv. 25-35). 

Jesus loves us so much that he opens our eyes to see him as he truly is.  Notice that he begins the Scriptures. 

Jesus interprets the Scriptures to these disciples (vv. 25-27).  He first rebukes their unbelief (v. 25), not their unbelief in the testimony of the women, but their unbelief in the testimony of the Word.  They should have known that the Old Testament Scriptures foretold that the Messiah would suffer and die before rising again and entering into glory (v. 26).  He teaches them in verse 27 that the entire Old Testament is about him.  He explains to them that the Old Testament is a revelation of Jesus. 

When our eyes are closed to the resurrection of Jesus, the Bible can be a confusing book.  “What is it really all about?” we may ask.  But when Jesus uses the Scriptures to open our eyes, he shows us that the whole Bible is about him. 

St. Augustine said, “The Old Testament is the New Testament concealed, and the New Testament is the Old Testament revealed.”  There is a scarlet thread that runs from Genesis to Revelation, and the scarlet thread is salvation through Jesus. 

I wish I could have been there when Jesus explained how the Old Testament was all about him.  Perhaps he spoke to them of that ancient promise in the Garden of Eden where God said that the offspring of the woman would crush the serpent’s head.  Or maybe he took them to the call of Abram and spoke about how God said that one of his descendants would spread the blessing of forgiveness to all the nations of the earth.  Maybe he related to them the story of Abraham who almost offered his one and only son, Isaac, as a sacrifice, but God stayed his hand and provided another lamb to be the sacrifice in Isaac’s place.  He may have walked them through the days of King David and the covenant God made with him that one of his own sons would sit on the throne and rule the world.  Or perhaps he took them to the specific prophecies, like Isaiah 53 that we read in our service this morning, and spoke about how he was the One who would be wounded for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities.  Or maybe he simply walked through the sacrificial system of the Old Testament, pointing out each and every object and ritual and showing them how it was all about him.  He may have showed them how he was the temple where God’s presence dwells, and how he had said that if they destroyed the temple, that he would rebuild it in three days.  Or maybe he pointed to the Passover Lamb and said that he was the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.  He would die, and God’s wrath would pass over all who believe in him. 

What a joy it would be to hear the Incarnate Word explain the written Word!  When Jesus opens our eyes, he shows us that the Bible reveals that he is our Savior.  He is the One who died for our sins.  He is the One who rose again to give us forgiveness, life, joy, and hope. 

But even though Jesus explains all this to them, their eyes are still closed.  He has not yet opened their eyes.  That doesn’t happen until they reach their destination. 

When they finally reach their destination, they invite Jesus to stay with them, and Jesus reveals himself in the breaking of bread (vv. 28-35). 

They were not celebrating the Lord’s Supper.  It was a common meal.  Yet when Jesus took the bread, broke it, and blessed it, they would have been reminded of the institution of the Lord’s Supper. 

On that dark night, he had taken bread, blessed it, broken it, and said, “This is my body, which is broken for you.”  He had also taken a cup of wine and said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, shed for the remission of sins.” 

They make the connection in verse 31: “And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him.”  Then they knew their Lord!  Then they knew that he was alive! 

Verse 31 tells us that he then vanished.  One might conclude from this that Jesus was a ghost or a spirit, but Luke clarifies later in verse 39 where Jesus says, “See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself.  Touch me, and see.  For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.”  Jesus was not a ghost or a spirit.  He was physically resurrection from the dead.  He touched the bread.  He blessed the bread.  He broke the bread.  This was no phantom. 

Yet we do see that his resurrected body was capable of things that we cannot explain naturally.  There is mystery here to be sure. 

When their eyes are opened, they say something amazing in verse 32, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?”  They knew that this was Jesus.  They now had open eyes and burning hearts.  So they return to Jerusalem in time to see that Jesus has also appeared to Simon Peter (v. 34).  And they relate to the rest of them that Jesus had made himself known to them in the breaking of bread (v. 35). 

Jesus uses his Word to open our eyes, but he also uses the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper.  For disciples, when we come to the Lord’s Table, we see that Christ is yet again opening our eyes to Good Friday and to Easter Sunday.  He is showing us that his body was broken for us and his blood shed for us.  He died in our place.  And he rose again to reign over us in heaven. 

And when we celebrate the Lord’s Supper, we are also reminded of the hope set before us because he shall return to drink the fruit of the vine anew with us in his Father’s kingdom. 

Jesus is able to open our eyes.  He is able to reveal himself to the eyes of our heart.  We do not see him with the eyes of flesh, but we are able to see him with the eyes of faith.  When Jesus opens our eyes to his resurrection, our lives change.  We have life, forgiveness, joy, and hope.  He died, but he is alive forevermore.  He has the keys of Death and Hades.  He is the Lamb of God, standing as though it had been slain.  He is the Living One who shall never die again.  He is the Resurrection and the Life.  Whoever lives and believes in him, though he die, yet shall he live.  Do you believe this?  Are your eyes opened?  “Turn your eyes to Jesus!  Look full in his wonderful face!  And the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace.”   

Integrity

“I will sing of steadfast love and justice; to you, O LORD, I will make music.  I will ponder the way that is blameless.  Oh when will you come to me?  I will walk with integrity of heart within my house; I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless.  I hate the work of those who fall away; it shall not cling to me.  A perverse heart shall be far from me; I will know nothing of evil.”  Psalm 101:1-4

“It is easier for most men to walk with a perfect heart in the church, or even in the world, than in their own families.  How many are as meek as lambs among others, when at home they are wasps or tigers.”  Adam Clarke

“Piety must begin at home.”  Charles Spurgeon

          When I was a kid, I had a Sunday School teacher who defined integrity as “what kind of person you are and how you act when no one else is looking.”  It’s not a bad definition but could be improved.  Integrity is what kind of person you are and how you act once you realize that God is always looking.  “And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give an account” (Hebrews 4:13).  The Lord is always looking.  “For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless towards him” (2 Chronicles 16:9).  This explains why David says in this Psalm, “I will walk with integrity of heart within my house.”  How a Christian lives when he is home alone is the test of his integrity.  How does he live when God alone is present? 

          I am often reminded of how R.C. Sproul says that Coram Deo is “the big idea of the Christian life.”  Coram Deo means “before God.”  Christians are called to live before the eyes of our loving God who is always looking.  He sees our outward actions and our inward motivations.  Nothing escapes the purview of our omniscient God!

          We can observe the way this consideration impacted David’s attitude in Psalm 101.  It is for this reason that he pondered the way that is blameless (v. 2), refused to set before his eyes worthless things (v. 3), hated the works of apostates (v. 3), desired a perverse heart to be far from him (v. 4), and did not want to know anything of evil (v. 4).  After this, if we were to continue reading in Psalm 101, we would see that he was opposed to slander and arrogance (v. 5) and desired to remove all deceit (v. 7) and wickedness (v. 8) from his house.  David was a man of God who sought to bring his entire house under the Lordship of Almighty God.  He desired his house to be a little temple in which the Spirit of God would dwell.  He did not want to do anything in private or in secret that would compromise the presence of God’s favor upon his life. 

          What a difference this would make in our lives if we walked before the Lord with integrity of heart in our homes!  It’s a matter of consistent holiness.  We would be able to stop pretending that we are one thing in public while we remain another thing in private.  Many masquerade as saints in public but are blatant sinners in private!  Pharisees on the streets may be publicans in their homes!  Integrity of heart and life is a rare jewel.  We should pursue it with intensity, zeal, dedication, and complete devotion. 

          As one application of integrity, consider the line in verse 3 about not setting before our eyes anything that is worthless.  This single line has specific application to our day.  We live in an age of electronics and entertainment.  Christians should celebrate these good gifts and enjoy them in moderation and self-control.  Yet we cannot fool ourselves into thinking that this electronic age does not bring with it a host of temptations.  We might apply this verse to what we see while watching television or surfing the web.  What should we be setting before our eyes?  (Hint: Philippians 4:8)  Since we usually enjoy these activities in the privacy of our homes, it calls for self examination.  We should try to remember that when we are watching the television, God is watching us.  When our eyes go to and fro from website to website, the Lord looks to and fro for those whose hearts are blameless before him. 

          I once heard of a man who placed this verse (“I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless.”) on his computer and above his television.  Such reminders are not a bad idea, but it would be far better to have these words sealed to our mind and heart.  We want to walk with the Lord and bear fruit in every good work. 

          It is only the grace of the gospel of our Lord Jesus that can grant us the motivation to live above reproach in all these matters.  The Lord Jesus who died and rose again can make a hypocrite into a consistent Christian.  He washes us clean from all our filth with his precious blood and gives us his Spirit to assure us that we are his beloved and to empower us to live for him.  Integrity of heart is rare indeed, but Christ gives us new hearts with the capacity to live for him in sincerity and truth.

Reformed Bible Conference

     This past Lord's Day evening I had the honor of preaching at First Presbyterian's annual Reformed Bible Conference in Hinckley, MN.  I cannot believe that this was my third time preaching in this conference.  The theme of this year's conference is "The Mediation of Christ" and audio files are available here.  I preached from Hebrews 7:23-28 on "Christ Our Heavenly Intercessor."
     
     Here is my basic outline:

Christ is our great high priest who is presently interceding in our behalf before the Father in heaven.

1.  The Office of Christ's Intercession (vv. 23-24).

     -Christ intercedes as our great high priest.

     -Contrast between Levitical priests and Christ:
    
          -They were many in number and held office temporarily on
          account of death.

          -He hold his priesthood permanently because he lives   
         forever.

     -According to Leviticus 16, there are two phases to his priestly
     ministry:

          1.  Atonement outside the sanctuary.

          2.  Intercession inside the sanctuary. 

2.  The Nature of Christ's Intercession (v. 25).

     -Effective Prayers (Romans 8:33-34).

     -Representative Presence (Heb. 9:24).

     -Continual Advocacy (1 John 2:1-2).


3.  The Basis of Christ's Intercession (vv. 26-28).

     -His Sinless Person (v. 26).

     -His Sacrificial Death (vv. 27-28). 

Clarifying the Clarity of Scripture

 “And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.”  2 Peter 3:15-16

I firmly believe in the clarity of Scripture (sometimes called the “perspicuity” of Scripture—something we joked about in seminary because the word “perspicuity” is not very perspicuous!).  In teaching through the book of Revelation at Grace PCA, I have realized that I need to clarify the doctrine of the clarity of Scripture.  Contrary to the common assumptions that people have, the clarity of Scripture doesn’t mean that everything in the Bible is equally clear, as the quotation from Peter’s second epistle shows: “There are some things in [Paul’s letters] that are hard to understand…”  We may ask, “What would Peter say about John’s Revelation?”  The fact that some Scriptures are hard to understand doesn’t mean that we are free to twist them to mean what we like.  Peter says that the ignorant and unstable twist them to their own destruction.  In point of fact, the danger of Scripture-twisting is greater when it comes to unclear passages.  Heretics twist unclear passages of Scripture with their own dogmatic interpretations that they have read into the text rather than out of it with the principles of sound interpretation.

Thankfully, the Westminster Confession provides an excellent statement of the clarity of Scripture.

“All things in Scripture are not alike plain in themselves, nor alike clear unto all; yet those things which are necessary to be known, believed, and observed for salvation, are so clearly propounded, and opened in some place of Scripture or other, that not only the learned, but the unlearned, in a due use of the ordinary means, may attain unto a sufficient understanding of them” (WCF 1.7).  

Observe that the Confession flatly denies that all Scripture is equally clear.  It denies both that all Scripture is equally clear and that all Scripture is equally clear to all people.  Yet the Confession affirms that what we need to know in order to be saved is clearly revealed.  God made the essentials of salvation clear enough for all of his people to understand with the help of his Holy Spirit.  The biblical teaching of salvation, then, may be understood by both the learned and the unlearned.  In order to understand what the Bible teaches, we must make “a due use of the ordinary means.”  The ordinary means for understanding the Bible are reading, understanding language, grammar, syntax, etc.  So we don’t understand the Bible automatically.  We have to do our homework, if you will.  The clarity of Scripture should not be abused as an excuse for mental laziness and unwillingness to study using the resources available.  There are many, many invaluable resources of Bible study in the English language, and we all may make use of them in order to understand what the Bible teaches.

Here are some pointers when it comes to applying the doctrine of the clarity of Scripture to your life.

1.     Focus on what the Bible clearly and repeatedly teaches in many places.  The entire Bible is God’s Word, but some parts of the Bible are more important than others.  Jesus spoke about “the weightier matters of the law” (Matthew 23:23).  Justice, mercy, and faithfulness, are more important than tithing, though tithing is certainly important. 

2.     Do not become discouraged with the sections of the Bible that you do not understand.  Do not become discouraged when your pastor admits that he does not fully understand them (Remember what Peter admitted about Paul!).  God inspired some texts that are hard to understand.  Perhaps he did this to keep us humble and dependent on him.

3.     Beware teachers who claim to have “expert knowledge” of obscure passages of Scripture.  False teachers may claim to have special knowledge or the key to interpretation.  Generally speaking, if a teacher comes up with an interpretation that has never been given throughout the history of the Church, it is a wrong interpretation.  If you become more dependent on the teacher than you are the Bible, then there is a problem.  The mark of a cult leader is that he makes you feel like you are dependent on him in order to understand “what the Bible really means.”  The true shepherd of souls will show you how to understand the Bible with the tools of valid interpretation.

4.     Do not create division in the Church with your interpretation of unclear passages.  We need to be humble about our view of an obscure passage, and we need to be gracious with our brothers and sisters who do not see it our way.

 

5.     Always pursue a deeper understanding of God’s Word.  We shouldn’t develop a defeatist mentality when it comes to interpreting the Bible simply because there are some difficult sections.  If we understood everything in God’s Word after our first reading, then God's Word would be simplistic and shallow.  With our feet firmly planted on the clear, foundational truths of God’s Word, let us pursue a better understanding of the more challenging passages!     



Grace PCA - Forever Small?

Why Are We So Small?

I’m sure you’ve noticed that most Reformed churches are small.  “Why?”  I doubt the answer to that question is either simple or one-dimensional.  Over at the Gospel Coalition’s website, Augustus Nicodemus Gomes Lopes wrote an article entitled, “Solidly Reformed, Strikingly Small,” that got me thinking about Grace PCA and our small church size.  His article is about small Reformed churches in Brazil, but I want to focus on our church.  Here are the facts.  We were planted in 2001 as “Kirk of the Lake Presbyterian Church,” particularized in 2007, and, having entered 2013, we are now “Grace Presbyterian Church” and remain very small.

Church Growth Makes Me Nervous

Let me just go ahead and say that I am extremely nervous about “church growth” conversations because there is so much in the church growth movement that Christians should reject as unbiblical.  And I say that as a person who has read more than a book or two on the subject of church growth.  As Reformed Christians, we all know the biblical arguments against the seeker-friendly approach to the church (“no one seeks God”—remember?).  So I will not take the time to state the obvious problems that we would have with adjusting every aspect of church life and culture in order to get more people in the door.  After all, we should ask, “What happens after we get them in the door?”  So the seeker-friendly approach is something that we simply cannot accept.  Another part of the problem with comparing Reformed churches to other larger churches might be that there is a certain kind of numerical growth that is happening in larger, seeker-driven churches that is not really a reflection of the kind of numerical growth that we desire to see in our churches.  The ends don’t justify the means; we are not willing to do anything in order to get people in the door.

Finding Balance in Talking About Numerical Growth

On the one hand, we shouldn’t think that church size tells us everything about a church’s faithfulness, but, on the other hand, we shouldn’t completely ignore numerical growth entirely. Anyone who has read the book of Acts will realize that it was a church that was growing numerically and that it was a church where they were counting the numbers of people that the Lord was adding to the church (Acts 2:41; 4:4).  Of course, we would underline the fact that it was the Lord who was adding to their number (Acts 2:47).  Yet we should equally recognize that the Lord was adding to their number through the means of their faithful witness.  So we cannot eliminate our responsibility in this matter.      

So What About Grace PCA?

What I’m particularly interested in thinking about in this post is what bearing all this has on the life and growth of Grace PCA.  Why are we small?  Why aren’t we growing numerically?  I know that the membership is growing spiritually (2 Peter 3:18), but we aren’t growing numerically in the way that we desire.  Yes, we have had some people join the church, and, yes, we have been able, by the grace of God, to retain some regular visitors.  But, all in all, we have seen very little numerical growth.  So I’m interested in thinking about why that’s the case.  Here are some of my ideas about our specific congregation (and let me emphasize that these are specifically about our church and may not apply to any other church in the world for all I’m concerned).  As you read through these, which ones strike you?  What ideas does this generate in your life?  Here are my thoughts in no particular order.

Establishing Community Presence 

1.  On an intensely practical level, I think one of our major problems is that we haven’t established a presence in the community.  We rent a building from a local SDA church.  We don’t have a permanent sign at this point (something that we are exploring).  People often have trouble finding us.  Just this past Sunday, we had a visiting family tell us that they were PCA members who had recently moved here from another state, and they had been looking for us for two consecutive Sundays, only to find us on their third attempt.  “Third time’s the charm!” isn’t a good rule for finding the church.  So we need to work on getting our name out there and making it clear where we are worshipping.  If people who really want to come have trouble, then what about people who might make a casual attempt one Sunday morning? 

Cultivating Loving Community

2.  On a deeper level, I am willing to admit that one of the reasons that we may have trouble attracting and retaining visitors is on account of the ethos of our community.  People may think that we are unloving or unkind.  We may not do a great job of welcoming them; however, I have been pleased over the past few years with the way that the congregation has welcomed visitors.  I think we are growing in that area.  Another idea that I have is that we may intimidate visitors.  We are a group of Christians who take doctrine seriously.  Most of us know what we believe and why we believe it, and outsiders may be intimidated by our knowledge or the way that we express our theological commitments.  For example, imagine a non-Christian visitor, who recently decided to go back to church, stumbles into our church on a Sunday morning.  Let’s suppose someone asks him, “When did you come to Reformed theology?”  What kind of impact will that make?  Do you think that it might confuse him?  Is that a question that we should be asking?  I promise you that visitors are asked those kinds of questions.  Another aspect of our community’s ethos is that we tend to talk openly about partisan politics.  I hear conversations all the time about gun laws, the evils of Obama, the follies of political liberalism, etc.  Should we be discussing partisan politics in church?  I can tell you that most unchurched people in Duluth will be from liberal, Democratic viewpoint.  What bearing should that have on the way that we talk about things?

Loving the City

3.  Something else that comes to mind has to with our sense of mission and vision and with practical challenges unique to our congregation.  Firstly, when it comes to mission and vision, we don’t really have a concrete mission and vision for the city of Duluth.  We are starting to change that and reach out to the community, but it has been baby step after baby step.  That’s gotta change.  Secondly, half of our congregation doesn’t even live in Duluth.  I thank God for our commuters.  However, it’s hard to develop a sense of mission, vision, and place when people come from elsewhere.  This is our city.  We need to have a positive outlook on the city.  We need to love the city, serve the city, be involved in the city, and make known the good news of Jesus to it (see Jeremiah 29:3-7).  We cannot be isolationists or fall into quietism.  We are called to be salt and light in this place and at this time.  For those of us who live in Duluth-Superior, we need to ask questions like, “How can I be more involved in the community?  How can I develop kingdom-minded relationships with others in Duluth-Superior?  What am I good at?  What interests me?  How can I serve?  Where are there opportunities for me to interact with non-Christians?”       

The Reformed Faith is Demanding

4.  Another possibility—and I promise that this really isn’t an excuse for our small church size—is that the Reformed faith is demanding.  It demands a lot from our minds, hearts, and wills, but, then again, so did Jesus.  We don’t reduce everything to the ABCs and 123s.  We aren’t theological minimalists.  We have high standards for doctrine and ethics.  Now we can preach our hearts out about how biblical all that is, but if we are living in a church culture where we are competing with a consumerist version of Christianity that demands nothing and is all about meeting your felt needs, we are going to have a hard time.  Consider an illustration.  You have a small town with a McDonald’s and a Subway.  Now there’s no question that Subway is the healthier option, unless you are really, really careful and selective at McDonald’s, but in spite of how healthy Subway is, most people will choose McDonald’s over Subway because it tastes better.  It’s unhealthy, but it tastes better.  So that’s what a lot of this is.  Why would people go to a serious Reformed church when they could go to an entertainment-driven church with dozens of programs for their kids?  So we cannot completely discount the fact that Reformed churches are completely different than seeker-friendly, entertainment-driven mega churches.  If we add to this that there are many “Reformed” churches that have compromised and gone into this evangelical faddism, then we are set up for some disappointment.  A person who has gone to a progressive PCA church for years may move to Duluth and find that our church has almost nothing in common with it culturally.

Developping a Missionary Mindset

5.  Maybe some of this has to do with the fact that we lack the mindset to think about mission.  What kind of church would connect best with the unbelievers that you know?  This doesn’t mean that we change the message to accommodate them, but it does mean that we adapt the presentation.  Paul preached differently to the Jews in the synagogue than he did to the pagans atop Mars Hill.  It’s just a fact.  So we have to think about contextualizing the message for the people in our neighborhood.

  

Resistance to Change

6.  Reformed churches don’t like change.  One man defined insanity as a person who does the same thing and expects different results.  It seems to me that reformation and renewal calls for change.  And people don’t like change.  Well, if we don’t like change, we don’t like improvement because improvement is change for the better.  One of the biggest obstacles to making the necessary changes to reach more people is that we confuse what the Bible teaches with what we prefer.  Reformed people are great at that.  Let me give you an example.  When I first came to the church, I wore a robe.  Now some ministers prefer to wear a robe and others prefer not to do so.  I prefer not to wear it, but it really isn’t that important to me.  I did eventually stop wearing the robe, but what if someone thought that this was an indication that I was becoming liberal?  Or what if someone thought that this was an indication that I was unconcerned about our Reformed identity?  I’m not suggesting that anyone actually thought that, but if they did, they would betray the fact that they confused what the Bible teaches with what they prefer.  There is no biblical mandate for the ministers of the new covenant to wear robes.  So why fight about that?  It doesn’t mean that robe wearing is irrelevant or unimportant, but it does mean that we shouldn’t make it more important than it actually is.  Here’s a good exercise.  What are some of the aspects of our church life, worship, teaching, preaching, and culture which are not a matter of biblical teaching but of personal preference?  How should we think about those issues?  Do they make a difference in reaching people in our community? 

Do Not Forget the Ordinary Means of Grace

Let me emphasize again that I’m not saying that I’m willing to do anything to get more people in the door.  I believe in the ordinary means of grace (the Word, Sacraments, and prayer).  I believe in simplicity in our worship and fellowship.  I don’t want to lose what we have—biblical worship and biblical preaching.  That’s my heart.  At the same time, maybe we should think about other biblical elements that we need to add for the sake of faithfulness.  And maybe we should think about other biblical considerations that we need to think through for the sake of faithfulness.  Perhaps we are too quick and simplistic to wave our hands at the lack of numerical growth in our churches.  What do you think?

Resources on Revelation for Further Study

At Grace PCA we have been studying the book of Revelation.  If you are interested in further study of the book of Revelation, here are some good resources:

In terms of books, I highly recommend Vern Poythress’s book, The Returning King: A Guide to the Book of Revelation.  The book will not answer all your questions (it doesn't attempt to do so), but it will help you understand the big-picture issues of interpreting Revelation.  

For general issues related to the study of eschatology (the study of last things), I recommend Anthony Hoekema’s book, The Bible and the Future.  I do not agree with all of Hoekema’s interpretations (something that could and should be said of all book recommendations), but overall this is an excellent resource for the major themes in biblical eschatology. 

There are some good online resources.  Dr. Kim Riddlebarger has made his sermons on Revelation available in text format.  You can read them here.

He has some excellent audio resources on eschatology.  They are available here on the right side of his blog. 

All of these resources are from a Reformed Amillennial point of view.