IS TGC MAKING A SHIFT, LEFT?

Question? Are we seeing a shift in TGC toward egalitarianism from a complementary position? Or is it simply “a generous complementarity?”  

1.        Why we need women in Ministry. Dr. Michael Kruger https://youtu.be/iVnnHdoS3Nk?si=oT8FD9n3FQ4plfU-

 

2.        How men and women must labor together for the good of the Church. TGC Podcast with Collin Hansen, Jen Wilkin, Kori Porter and Michael Kruger. https://youtu.be/CJs2lJgAKyI?si=aKRd4ATjxS86TtT4

 

3.        Knowing Faith Podcast. The Evangelical Leadership Crisis. Jen Wilkin, JT English and Kyle Worley. https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/knowing-faith/id1274228164?i=1000671653743

 

Q1? Has the current complementary position been something less than generous?

Q2? Is there a Biblical category that defines an “office” for women?

Q3? What is meant by “visible female leadership”? What does that look like? Is there a Biblical warrant for such a position?

Q4? Does the family analogy of the Church require the imprint of mother/father roles?

 

Comments are appreciated.

 

 

 

Did You Contribute to the Sin of Dr. Steven Lawson?

The Church is grieving. Many, many of us who have been beneficiaries of Dr. Lawson’s preaching and teaching are still reeling from the latest news of his moral failure. Many, many have commented appropriately to this shockwave. Many, many have rightly reminded us to “take heed to self, lest we too fall.”   I said to a dear friend, we are all within a half an inch of such shipwreck.

A question that needs to be considered in this is: “Have I contributed to this sin?”  

Before I write the next several sentences many of you readers will already begin, “Ya but.”  I caution you not to do that. If you at once launch into your rebuttal, you will not take seriously this question. Wrestle with this personally, please. “Have you contributed to this sin?”  This is not to minimize or evade the responsibility that Dr. Lawson is and must be held to. My contention is that many of us must recognize our contribution to this sin of Lawson’s and others in a comparable way.

Dr. Lawson has been part of a cadre of Evangelical (often Reformed minded) men and women who spend a gargantuan amount of time and energy on the Conference tours. If not there, they are producing books and study material at a supernatural rate. The Christian books stores and media outlets are replete with video and digital bible studies and courses. The ground supporting my question is this: Local churches have often made the conference, teaching ministries of such men and women indispensable to their ministry.

To be honest, I have contributed to the sin of Dr. Lawson. As a retired pastor I look back on many, many solutions to the local church teaching ministry satisfied by “parachuting” a big-name speaker in, via video, to teach my Sunday School class, Bible Study, or other ministry need. In fact, I know local churches that have become total dependent on the ability to import video teaching from these celebrated teachers.

We have committed two evils. We have demoted the necessity of the local church to develop teachers and preachers from within (Thus devaluing the doctrine of ecclesiology); and we have exalted the celebrity speakers to an unattainable pedestal.

Why must the local church default to importing celebrity teachers to meet the needs of the Sunday School class, Bible study or such like? Why must the local church default to importing the books, these people write, to meet the need of the moment? Why are men and women not being trained to open God’s Word before other believers and teach them the Bible? Why are men and women that have served Christ for many years incapable of following a simple pattern of hermeneutics and prayerfully teach their peers? Why are men and women being conditioned to demote the faithful preaching of their pastor (and elders, presumably) and relish in the conference ministry, the radio, TV ministries, the books and video series of these illuminaries?

A short story. My father was a Sabbatarian. As a young man he helped a fledgling church near the city of Glasgow, Scotland. He had two routes to go to church. One was lengthy and he would ride his bicycle. One was short but needed a ferry ride. One Sunday morning while crossing the ferry he was constrained to witness to the driver. He chose to start the conversation with, “Do you go to church?”  The ferryman answered, “How can I with the likes of you who keep me on this ferry.”  Now remember: No ya buts. My father’s conscience was pricked, and he never took the ferry again on the Lord’s Day. My father, to his credit, was able to see how his choices had aggravated the ferry man’s situation. Can you?

Why are there hundreds of conferences, books, video lessons and the like? Answer: because you and I demand them. It is the law of supply and demand. We have created celebrity pastors and teachers. One astute commentator wrote, “Every pastor should be at home at night with his wife.”  (Remember. No ya but.)  I have lived through T4G attended by thousands, TGCW attended recently by 9,000 women, Shepherds conference, Desiring God, Ligonier etc. etc.  I have also lived through the moral shipwreck and indiscretion of several of the speakers at such events.

What if Churches just said, enough! No more conferences. No more video lessons. No more book studies. No more! As of today, the people of God will look to their own pastors and elders for biblical preaching. As for today the people of God will encourage one another through the carefully handled Word of God, cutting it straight. As of today Sunday School (adult in mind) will see groups of disciples gathered reverently around their Bibles with paper, pen, and hearts open to receive God’s Word.

I have contributed to the sin of Dr. Lawson. Have you?

The local Church needs to embrace a robust Doctrine of Ecclesiology that makes much of the grace found in the preaching/teaching ministries of His “local” people. We have forsaken the primary and Biblical call upon the local Church and become reliant on the celebrity speaker to feed our people. It is not a burden these men and women ought to bear. We need to stop demanding it of them.

If you have considered this carefully and personally, now give me your “ya buts.”

We Are People Who Together Form A Community

Some might say that “confession is good for the soul”.  I think that’s right.  Even better is it to say that self-consciousness is good for the soul.  In the words of that stalwart Highland theologian, Robert Burns: “O wad some Power the giftie gie us, to see oursels as ithers see us!" This forms the context of why I engage in writing this article.  

The calendar has turned on my first year of retirement.  I said to a friend recently that in reflection it appears that I think more as a retired soldier than a retired pastor.  In other words I think my military paradigms were quite active even in pastoral ministry.  Staff at church seemed to see that clearer than I did, especially when they would make sport of my desire for order, precise protocols and decorum.  It also affected the way I viewed the Church and participation within the church (The change in case is intentional.).  When people would float in and out of the local church, even for seemingly logical reasons, it would bother me.  When some abandoned the community in protest (e.g., COVID-19 policies) I was very provoked.  I categorized such fluidity as disloyalty.  Loyalty surfaced as one of my most important ideals.  This conviction became more obvious when I was recently reading, THE PATROL, SEVEN DAYS IN THE LIFE OF A CANADIAN SOLDIER IN AFGHANISTAN by Ryan Flavelle .  He writes, 

 

“At that moment I realized just what an important thing choice is. Not the choice between shopping at Walmart or shopping at Superstore, but the ability to choose whether to participate in things that directly affect your safety. I had given up that right. I was going to get into the back of that LAV, stand air sentry, cross my fingers and toes, and hold on. That was my only choice.

 

The cold, hard reality of military life is that no one makes any effort to treat you as an individual. You are a soldier; that is all. It is refreshing to be reminded that no matter what our third-grade teachers taught us, we are not all unique and delicate flowers; we are people who together form a community . . . In the military we are painfully aware that each one of us is merely a cog in a much larger machine . . . The military doesn’t view us as unique, and it doesn’t need to.”

 

Of course I would err to take Flavelle’s accurate view of military life and apply it directly to Christian communion without some nuancing.  The New Testament certainly acknowledges the individual, individual gifts, individual genders, culture, etc.  But the New Testament also points to community, to oneness, and to one another-ness.  In our culture that emphasizes individuality, freedom, autonomy, etc., we would do well to heed the community aspects to our Christian faith.  Much of the New Testament is written to us in our plurality, not individuality.  The most basic prayer starts, “Our Father . . ..”   

 

Just like it is unique to military life to see the whole as more important than the part, it is also unique to life in the Christian community.  The initiatory act of baptism symbolizes that.  One might wonder if the militant Church on earth wouldn’t be more effective if people would acknowledge that certain individual freedoms are forfeited the moment one becomes part of Christ’s Body. Today we have a weakened Church because everyone wants to be treated as an individual.  Thus they live and make choices mainly on what satisfies their needs and their desires.  It might be a time to make ourselves nothing and see the glorious “larger machine” that we are “merely cogs” within. 

 

I recently overheard a spouse say, “I get to be me!”   Perhaps a better marital ideal is, “I get to be us.”  The same is true for the Church.  So I don’t apologize for my military influence that places loyalty to the Church in such a prominent place.  And if you still float between churches like shopping between Walmart and Superstore, I’m still provoked by your heightened view of your own self-prominence.  

There are good reasons to leave a church.  That discussion is not part this article.  Tim Challies has an excellent Blog on that topic.  Akin to marriage, when we go into a fellowship with the notion that we can remain autonomous and leave when we want to we start at the wrong place.  When we start at the point of “may death do us part” we are on the right path to true Church life.  It is counter-cultural but it is Scriptural: the whole is more important that the sum of its parts.

 

 

Is there a difference between preaching and teaching?

This question stimulates intriguing discussion among pastors and church leaders.  It has been said to me, “I am a teacher, not a preacher.”  Interestingly, no one has ever said the opposite!  Some suggest that there is no difference between the two.  They say the two terms as virtually synonymous.  My position is that there is a distinction, but not a radical division.  It helps to state it this way:

You can be a teacher and not a preacher; but

You cannot be a preacher without being a teacher.

An important text of Scripture that gives rise to this definition is found in 2 Timothy 4:1–2 (ESV):

“⁴ I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: ² preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.”

Notice this important call to Paul’s protégé, Timothy: “Preach the word . . . with patience and teaching.” The imperative is to “preach”.  The Greek word is translated “herald” or “proclaim” and he is to do it with “teaching” (with doctrine or instruction).  To read on in 2 Timothy we learn of a time when people will not welcome this “sound teaching” v3.  Sound teaching or sound doctrine is the content of the word preached.  Exegetically we can discern that to preach includes the elements of “reproving, rebuking and exhorting.”  I would argue that you can conduct instruction that conveys doctrinal understanding to the hearer. Left in that alone it is defined as teaching.  The preacher though takes the sound teaching and in love and concern for the hearer brings reprimand, conviction of sin, a stern warning, comfort and encouragement.  There is a Spirit endowed authority with true preaching.  This diagram is a facsimile of my position [1]:

This emotion that is implied in Biblical preaching is that blend of compassion and passion.  Martyn Lloyd-Jones defined preaching this way:

“What is preaching? Logic on fire! Preaching is theology coming through a man who is on fire. A true understanding and experience of the Truth must lead to this. I say again that a man who can speak about these things dispassionately has no right whatsoever to be in a pulpit; and should never be allowed to enter one.”[2]

J.I. Packer presses in deeper by stating that the “preacher” conveys the Word of God through His “commands, promises, warnings, and assurances, with a view to winning the hearer or hearers…to a positive response.”[3] My father had a book on his shelf entitled, Preaching to Convince.  There is a sense where the preacher, more so than the teacher, is burning to be persuasive, pressing the urgency of the doctrine onto the hearer and seeking the right response through invitation.

It is no accident that the Greek word for the preacher represents a herald, a town crier.  The herald is a representative of the king and has a message that the subjects need to hear.  Certainly, the herald must represent the king’s message with precision, but he is also endowed with a serious responsibility to ensure that people hear and respond to the message. His job is not to provide facts and information.  His job is to press the facts and information on the minds and wills of the citizens. 

Now what of a person who is preaching (so-called) but is devoid of the essence of teaching?  I have witnessed such things in the name of preaching.  I think of them as nothing but circus clowns parading themselves back and forth across the stage, ranting and railing, throwing out nothing but carefully designed memes, entertaining their audience with their performance.  Preaching without teaching is not preaching.

There is a role for teachers in the church.  “Teaching, on the other hand, if done well, is dialogical [a discussion with students. A conversation.] by nature. The communication of content is driven by the teacher, but questions from the hearers shape the conversation and interchange that happens in the classroom. Good teaching is inherently dialogical.”¹

So, there is a need for sound doctrinal, albeit dialogical teachers in the Church. They provide insight into systematic and Biblical theology.  They instruct the listeners in doctrine.  Their goal is to provide information that equips. Often, they are seen as discipling believers.  But the essential need for the Church is for preachers.  They are transformational in their approach. They warn.  They correct. They bring Gospel comfort and encouragement in the Lord. They have a fire within that cannot be quenched.  As prophets of old they come with a “burden”.   

So yes, there are teachers that are not preachers.  But Biblical preachers — preachers representing the King of kings approach their congregation with a compassion driven passion to conform people to the likeness of Christ in Christian maturity.

“Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ.” - Colossians 1:28 (ESV)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[1] https://www.logos.com/grow/what-is-the-difference-between-preaching-and-teaching/

[2] Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Preaching and Preachers, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1971), 97.

[3] J. I. Packer, Preaching a Biblical Interpretation in Inerrancy and Common Sense, ed. Roger Nicole and J. Ramsey Michaels, (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1980), 189.

 

What Is Biblical Counselling?

 “Biblical Counseling is a ministry of the local church whereby transformed believers in Christ (John 3: 3-8) who are indwelled, empowered, and led by the Holy Spirit (John 14: 26) minister the living and active Word of God (Heb. 4: 12) to others in view of evangelizing the lost and teaching the saved (Matt. 28: 18-20). Biblical Counseling is based on the conviction that Scripture is sufficient for the counseling task and superior to anything the world has to offer (2 Tim. 3: 16-17; Heb. 4: 12; 2 Peter 1: 3-4; Ps. 119; James 4: 4). Biblical counselors realize the significance of sin (Rom. 3: 23, 6: 23) and after self-confrontation (Matt. 7: 5) lovingly confront those who are in sin (Luke 17: 3-4) and call them to repentance (2 Tim. 2: 24-26). Biblical counselors also realize that in a fallen world people can face significant crises that are not a direct result of their own personal sin (Job 1-2). Biblical counselors purposefully and patiently walk with, serve, love, encourage, and help people in these cases (1 Th. 5: 14). They also call upon others in the church to assist based on their gifts and roles (1 Cor. 12: 4-31). Biblical counseling can be informal, accomplished over coffee, in the hallways of the church, or in the work place and community. It can also be formal, accomplished through scheduled appointments in an office setting. All Christians should be taught to minister God's Word and boldly do so in the context of the local church. Biblical counselors are motivated by the compassion of Christ (Mt. 9: 36, 2 Cor. 5: 14-15) and through obeying His commands, (John 14: 21) seek to be salt and light in such a way that others see their good works and glorify their Father in heaven (Mt. 5: 16).”

— Biblical Crisis Counseling: Not If But When by John Babler

https://a.co/j6UXoUP

The Pastor and an Unmessianic Sense of Non Destiny - Selected Quotations

The Pastor and an Unmessianic Sense of Non Destiny 

Carl Trueman [1]

Selected Quotations:

“The West worships the individual. From the cradle to the grave, it tells us all how special and unique we are, how vital we are to everything, how there’s a prize out there just for us.”

“What concerns me is the way in which our tendency to think of ourselves as special and unique bleeds over into a sense of special destiny whereby the future, or at least the future of myself, comes to be the priority and to trump all else.”

“This belief that we are each special is, by and large, complete tosh. Most of us are mediocre, make unique contributions only in the peculiar ways we screw things up, and could easily be replaced as husband, father, or employee by somebody better suited to the task.”

“My special destiny as a believer is to be part of the church; and it is the church that is the big player in God’s wider plan, not me.”  [Emphasis Mine]

“When I act, I act as a whole person; my hand has no special role of its own; it acts only in the context of being part of my overall body. With the church, the destiny of the whole is greater than the sum of the destinies of individual Christians.”

“Well, the world turned for thousands of years before any of us showed up; it will continue turning long after we’ve gone, short of the parousia; and even if you, me, or the Christian next door are tonight hit by an asteroid, kidnapped by aliens, or sucked down the bathroom plughole, very little will actually change; even our loved ones will somehow find a way to carry on without us. We really are not that important.”

___________________________________

1. 9 Marks Journal, March, 2022. Carl Trueman is a Professor of Biblical and Religious Studies at Grove City College in Grove City, Pennsylvania.  

It’s Really Hard To Find A Barber That Pleases Me.

 

I just have one of those heads-of-hairs!  I just have a hard time getting a haircut I like. (Of course that doesn’t include my do-it-myself cut that is completely wash-and-wear.). I would bore you to death plotting the times and locations of haircuts that I’ve had over the years. As of today I’m back to the same shop that I went to years ago.  

My hair ordeal isn’t a big deal.  In fact its amazing you’ve read this much already.  What is a big deal is when Christians treat the Church like I’ve treated my litany of barber shops. What’s even more fascinating is that given enough time some even end up back in the same “shop” they had sought to be served in, in previous times.  The truth of the matter is that if we go to church to have our needs met and our ideals aligned with we’ll never be satisfied and we’ll move from shop to shop.  But, like every barber knows, the customer is always right.

Saved To Sin No More!

Jerusalem’s Enemies to Be Destroyed - Part 2

In the previous Blog, I left the reader with this question: Is this about ethnic Israel being restored and saved; or is the subject about the eschatological Israel of God, ultimately saved from her enemies?  Is it the Jerusalem of Palestine that is preserved; or is it the New Jerusalem - the Church?   It would be easy to just assume that "Israel according to the flesh" is the subject – and it might be.  But the flow of thought in this prophecy of Zechariah doesn't permit us to do that.

Chapter 11 is clearly an accounting of events relating to ethnic Israel and their demise.  So we would expect that when Chapter 12 talks of Israel it helps us understand their end.  What makes this difficult as Thomas McComiskey writes, "We have found however, that sections of this book adumbrate [foreshadow] the church and that is true here."[1]

Having said that the oracle clearly represents the physical city of Jerusalem and Israel as an historic nation. The view I take is not conclusive but I think it represents an honest exegesis of Zechariah 12-13:6 that presents an eschatological view somewhat like this graph:

What is prefigured is more distant, but it cannot be dismissed from the exposition.  Zechariah 12-13:6 enables us to see what is near.  This preserved remnant is mighty through the Sovereign God.  God will make the remnant (metaphorically speaking: Jerusalem) impregnable. “On that day, when all the nations of the earth are gathered against her, I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock for all the nations. All who try to move it will injure themselves. On that day I will strike every horse with panic and its rider with madness,” declares the Lord. “I will keep a watchful eye over Judah, but I will blind all the horses of the nations. Then the clans of Judah will say in their hearts, ‘The people of Jerusalem are strong, because the Lord Almighty is their God.’” (Zechariah 12:3–5, NIV)

McComiskey explains that the phrase "when all the nations of the earth" is better translated "if all the nations of the earth."[2]    According to verse 10, the Lord's gracious activity to these people occurs because of their spiritual renewal. In a sovereign act of grace He will awaken their hearts giving them a new spirit. This cannot be anything but the fulfillment of the New Covenant.  “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.” (Ezekiel 36:26, NIV) .  As McComiskey says:

"This sovereign activity of God within their hearts will impel Jerusalem's inhabitants to look to this pierced figure in sorrow. That the mourning of this verse is not hopeless anguish over their rejection of him, but heartfelt repentance, is clear from the resultant cleansing from sin that the discourse goes on to describe (13:1-6)." [3]

““On that day a fountain will be opened to the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and impurity.” (Zechariah 13:1, NIV)  This is well worth the read:  "Likened to a gushing spring, this divine forgiveness cleanses from sin and uncleanness.  Not only are the people and their leaders cleansed of their overt disobedience to God, but also of the uncleanness that their disobedience created.  When this rushing fountain opens it will cleanse the land of all uncleanness."[4]   This, of course, leads to Chapter 14, which is unmistakably the eternal state: the new heavens and new earth.

There Is A Fountain [5]
Verse 1 There is a fountain filled with blood Drawn from Immanuel's veins And sinners plunged beneath that flood Lose all their guilty stains Lose all their guilty stains Lose all their guilty stains And sinners plunged beneath that flood Lose all their guilty stains	Verse 3 Dear dying Lamb Thy precious blood Shall never lose its pow'r Till all the ransomed Church of God Be saved to sin no more Be saved to sin no more Be saved to sin no more Till all the ransomed Church of God Be saved to sin no more

Saved to sin no more.  Father I cannot conceive of such joy. What must it be like!  Oh the blood of Jesus that cleanses from all sin.  Mercy that knows no bounds.  Hallelujah, what a Savior. Grant me the grace to live in light of that day -- IN THAT DAY!  With all my brothers and sisters, Jews and Gentiles, slaves and free, from every tongue, every tribe, every nation -- saved to sin no more.  Praise God!  And can it be that I should gain such interest in His blood.   The thought is beyond comprehension.  Thank You, Father.  Amen!

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[1] Zechariah, Thomas Edward McComiskey, The Minor Prophets, Baker Academic, Grand Rapids, Mich., USA, 1998, Page 1209.

[2] Ibid, Page 1210

[3] Ibid, Page 1215

[4] Ibid, Page 1218

[5] William Cowper, © Words: Public Domain, Music: Public Domain

I Will Return ... My Temple Shall Be Rebuilt.

The Man Among the Myrtle Trees - Part 2

Previously we grasped the sense of this first of eight visions in a earlier Blog.  The entire vision is found in  Zechariah 1:7–17.  The message of this vision is that "What appears to be an anomaly: nations at peace; Israel in a state of unrest, is going to be reversed. God is going to return mercy to His people; rebuild His House; and pour out blessing on His Nation."

What about the details in this vision, though?  What is there to learn from them?  There's a:

1. Man mounted on a red horse.
2. There are myrtle trees -- in a ravine.
3. Behind the man on the red horse are three other horses: red (speckled (Hebrew: sarōq, i.e., bay, speckled, fox-colored; hence, sorrel) is a mixture of the other colors), brown, and white.

The man on the red horse is identified for us in verse 11 as the Angel of the LORD. This is clearly a Christophany -- a pre-incarnate appearance of the Second Person of the Trinity: the Son of God.

The myrtle trees were ornamental plants or shrubs that were native to Syria—their appearance in the scene would link the vision to Israel’s past exile in Babylon." [1]  That they are seen in a ravine may speak of the suppressed condition of the nation at that time. 

The three horses behind the Christophany are angels sent to patrol the earth, observing the activities of mankind and acting as agents of God's providence.  Some might speculate as the colors of these horses, but there is little evidence that we can do that with certainty.

They significance of all this is clear.  We read, “Then the angel of the Lord said, “Lord Almighty, how long will you withhold mercy from Jerusalem and from the towns of Judah, which you have been angry with these seventy years?”” (Zechariah 1:12, NIV).  This is the amazing, intercessory ministry of Christ for His people.   Note:

"The angel of the Lord was moved to intercede for the people of Judah. He desired the completion of the process of restoration which required the reconstruction of the temple, Jerusalem, and the other towns of Judah . . . Through intercession suggestive of our Lord's high priestly prayer as our Mediator (John 17), the angel of the lord prayed that in the mercy of God this situation would be rectified." [2]

As this is the appearance of the Christ, and he says “I will return to Jerusalem with mercy, and there my house will be rebuilt" (v16),” then surely He is referring to His Advent, when He comes incarnate to Jerusalem and promises to “. . .  build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.” (Matthew 16:18, NIV).  The Apostles clearly understood that the promise of Jesus Christ to rebuild the Temple was occuring as the Gospel was going from Jerusalem to the salvation of the Gentiles (see Acts 15:12-17).  

What is this "surveyors line"?  ("and the measuring line shall be stretched out over Jerusalem" [3]). "The “surveyor’s line” (v. 16) is a measuring line and indicates Jerusalem’s expansion." [4]  Notice Jeremiah 31:38–40 (NIV),

³⁸ “The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when this city will be rebuilt for me from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate. ³⁹ The measuring line will stretch from there straight to the hill of Gareb and then turn to Goah. ⁴⁰ The whole valley where dead bodies and ashes are thrown, and all the terraces out to the Kidron Valley on the east as far as the corner of the Horse Gate, will be holy to the Lord. The city will never again be uprooted or demolished.”

What city will never be uprooted again?   Jerusalem?  No!  But a heavenly Jerusalem will never be overcome.  This is speaking of a time, not when a physical temple is built, but a spiritual, organic, universal Temple is built that will endure for eternity.  In compressed, telescopic reality, Zechariah is foretelling the coming of the Lord and that comfort that He will rebuild the Temple -- the Church, His People.  "The temple Zechariah encouraged his people to build was itself prophetic. It pointed toward realities that ultimately found their full realization in the coming of Christ, because the temple was the place that confirmed God’s relationship with his people." [5]

I thank you Father that Your promise to Zechariah is an ongoing reality.  Today, with unspeakable joy we witness the re-building of Your Temple.  Rather than stone bricks, it's made of hearts of flesh. Rather than built by might and power, it is being built by the almighty power of Your Spirit.  Rather than located in a city in the Middle East, it extends to every nation, every tongue, every tribe.  Your Church is glorious, not because of its essence, but because Your Son, died and shed His blood to bring it into being.  I thank You that this is a City that will never be demolished.  The gates of Hell will never prevail.  Your glorious, radiant, blood-bought Church will endure to bring You glory for ever and ever.  May Christ be praised.   Thank you for the privilege to be part of the establishment of Your Kingdom.  I am totally unnecessary and totally useless.  So grant the grace to serve in the strength You give, that we might see Your kingdom extend to all the nations, until all the kingdoms of this world, become the Kingdom of our God and Savior.  Amen and amen!

____________________________________________________

1. KJV Bible Commentary. 1994 (E. E. Hindson & W. M. Kroll, Ed.) (1796). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

2. Expositor's Bible Commentary, The, Pradis CD-ROM:Zechariah/Exposition of Zechariah/II. A Series of Eight Night Visions (1:7-6:8)/A. The First Vision: The Horseman Among the Myrtle Trees (1:7-17), Book Version: 4.0.2

3. The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. 2001 (Zec 1:16). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

4. Believer’s Study Bible. 1991 (W. A. Criswell, P. Patterson, E. R. Clendenen, D. L. Akin, M. Chamberlin, D. K. Patterson & J. Pogue, Ed.) (electronic ed.) (Zec 1:7). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

5. Williams, M. (2012). How to Read the Bible through the Jesus Lens: A Guide to Christ-Focused Reading of Scripture (155). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

The Circular Argument of Love and Truth

2 John 4–6 (NIV),

            ⁴ It has given me great joy to find some of your children walking in the truth, 

just as the Father commanded us. 

            ⁵ And now, dear lady, I am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the                   beginning.

 I ask that we love one another. 

                ⁶ And this is love:

               that we walk in obedience to his commands. 

As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.

The NASB translates verse 4: "I was very glad to find some of your children walking in truth . . .." [1] Noting the italicized word "some" we recognize that it is not in the Greek phrase.  Does the some mean that only a group were walking in the Truth; or does it mean that John had only met some. We are not sure.  But the some did bring him joy.  Some translations do not add the article "the" to truth indicating a walk that is truthful or authentic.  But the NIV, correctly adds "the" to Truth indicating a specific body of truth.  This is emphasized by the words which follow as he writes of the Father's command.

So what is this commandment of the Father that we should "walk" in?  It is the commandment to love one another.  So we ask John, "What is love?"  His answer is that love is obeying God's commands.  "Four times in vv. 4-6 the author uses the noun "command" (entole). This is his way of making clear that what he is saying is a direct expression of God's will. And how does one know that he fulfills the will of God? The test of love is obedience to God's commands, and the test of obedience is whether one "walks in love." [2]

If you sense a circular argument here you are right.  Christian living is never departmentalized or lived in an isolated vacuum.  There is an overlap and interrelationship with all we do.  This means that when we discuss the centrality of the Christian message, i.e. love for God and one another, this begs the definition of walking in truth and obedience. Negatively, if I am living a disobedient life then I cannot assume that I am truly loving God and/or others; or vice versa. There is a word that describes this.  It is the word "congruity."

The word congruity is from the Old French congruité  for "relevance and appropriateness." Congruity is a quality of agreement and appropriateness. When there's congruity, things fit together in a way that makes sense. If a team has congruity, the players work together well.  If a Christian Church has congruency, it means that what they believe, what they say they believe,  how they act -- on the outside and the inside -- public and private all send the same message.  

This is the ultimate description of a healthy congregation.  It is a joy to the Pastor.  It brings glory to God and His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.  

Father this is the ultimate battle of Christendom.  This is my ultimate battle.  I can't imagine what the Day will be like, when “. . . we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” (1 John 3:2, NIV). The most congruent Man in the cosmos is Jesus Christ.  What you see is what you get.  No deceit. No hypocrisy. Oh to be like Him!  I long for the Day when what I believe is who I really am.  I long for the Day when what I am on the inside is the same as the outside.  I long for the Day when all that I am is encapsulated in love for God, obedience to God, and love for others.  That Day is coming. Because of the essence of the Gospel -- because of Christ, that Day is coming.  Today, Father, I thank you for the gift of the Holy Spirit, who is keeping my eyes of the glory of Christ in the Gospel -- and thereby being changed a little bit at a time, each day.  But today Father, I long for That Day when I shall know Him and be like Him, in all His glory.   Maranatha, Lord Jesus.

 

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1. New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. 1995 (2 Jn 4). LaHabra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.

2. Expositor's Bible Commentary, The, Pradis CD-ROM:2 John/Exposition of 2 John/II. A Formal Word of Instruction (4-11)/A. An Exhortation (4-6), Book Version: 4.0.2

The Promise of Blessing.

2 John 3 (NIV),

³ Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Father’s Son, will be with us in truth and love.

John is intentionally setting the tone to this letter.   The salutation "grace and peace" to the recipients is certainly a normally apostolic greeting.  And even this blessing invoked by the name of God and from His Son, Jesus Christ, is part of the standard greeting.   But here he gives it as a promise.  He promises that God's mercy and grace will be ours in the context of truth and love (his theme).

This is more than a sequoia into the next paragraph.  John is drawing a clear boundary around which the Church exists.  He is drawing a clear distinction as to where the blessings of God in Christ are to be found.  This area of distinction is the place called truth and love.  "The source of this blessed “grace, mercy, and peace” is none other than God Himself, who is truth (John 14:6; 1 John 5:6) and love (1 John 4:8)." [1]

Grace, χάρις [khar·ece].  This is a free and holy expression of God's gift to the believer that also empowers and strengthens.  Mercy, ἔλεος [el·eh·os] is God's expression of kindness, doing for us what we don't deserve.  Peace, εἰρήνη [i·ray·nay] is the blessing of God bringing tranquility and assurance to the believer.

John assures the Church of all of that as it exists within the framework of truth and love.  One might well argue that these characteristics truly represent Christianity and the Gospel. In these words we note that mercy deals with our sin; grace brings us to God and empowers us to live for Him.  Peace makes our troubled soul find rest. All this is found in the context of Truth and Love.  These characteristics are truly only met in one Person, the Lord Jesus Christ.  The Psalmist foretells this when he writes, “Love and faithfulness meet together; righteousness and peace kiss each other.” (Psalm 85:10, NIV). Truth, mercy, grace, peace and love all meet at the Cross. 

The organization or institution that professes to be a Church and fails to live close to the Cross, is neither Christian, nor the object of Divine blessing.   

Jesus keep me near the cross

There a precious fountain
Free to all a healing stream
Flows from Calv'ry's mountain

Near the cross a trembling soul

Love and mercy found me
There the Bright and Morning Star
Sheds its beams around me

Near the cross O Lamb of God

Bring its scenes before me
Help me walk from day to day
With its shadows o'er me. [2]

Amen and amen!

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1. Whitlock, L. G., Sproul, R. C., Waltke, B. K., & Silva, M. (1995). The Reformation study Bible: Bringing the light of the Reformation to Scripture: New King James Version (2 Jn 3). Nashville: T. Nelson.

2. Fanny Jane Crosby | William Howard Doane,  © Words: Public Domain, Music: Public Domain