Tabletalk 01 Jan 2013

C O R A M D E O B E F O R E T H E F A C E O F G O D B U R K P A R S O N S

Recovering Lost Disciplines

C O L U M N S

26 LISTENING AND THE PASTOR MATTHEW MILLER PASTORS PERSPECTIVE

28 THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS R.C. SPROUL JR. SEEK YE FIRST

64 THEOLOGY AND DOXOLOGY GERRIT SCOTT DAWSON HEART AFLAME

66 THE VALUE OF CONFESSIONS DOUGLAS F. KELLY FOR THE CHURCH

68 CHRIST AND THE ACADEMY D.A. CARSON INTERVIEW

74 DOUBT-KILLING PROMISES JUSTIN TAYLOR BEYOND THE WICKET GATE

S T U D I E S

31 INTO THE WORD

36 WHAT THE CHURCH NEEDS MOST DANIEL R. HYDE

44 PREPARING TO DIE WELL SEAN MICHAEL LUCAS

52 FRIENDSHIP WITH JESUS CONRAD MBEWE

58 READY FOR THE CYBER WORLD TEDD TRIPP

4A Charitable Reaction R .C . S P R O U L

6Listening to Gods WordE R I C W AT K I N S

12Listening at HomeT E D D T R I P P

16Listening to Gods Word in the ChurchJ O N AT H A N L E E M A N

22Listening to the WorldG E N E E D W A R D V E I T H

ON THE COVER Photo by Mike Powell

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CONTEN T SF E A T U R E S

A s I write, I am looking out over the vast and cold Atlantic Ocean as I come to the end of a short family getaway at the beach. I have shut off my mobile phone. I have closed all unnecessary programs on my computer. I have turned off the music I had been listening to while I read a few articles online, and, as is my habit before sitting down to write, I prayed and asked the Lord to grant me discernment as I strive to write for his glory and for the edification of his people.

The missionary and martyr Jim Elliott (19271956) wrote, The devil has made it his business to monopolize on three elements: noise, hurry, crowds . . . Satan is quite aware of the power of silence. It is difficult to escape the busyness, noise, and crowds of life. We are bombarded

by a host of amusements and contraptions, most of which we have enthusiastically welcomed into our lives, homes, communities, and churches. We have conditioned ourselves to distraction, and we are leading the next generation down the same path in a hurry. C.S. Lewis wrote, We live, in fact, in a world starved for solitude,

silence, and private. We stand at a crossroads, and we will either rediscover the lost virtues of listening, meditating, and thinking, or we will amuse ourselves to death.

However, our problem lies not in our twenty-first-century tools and toys, but in our inability to use them without them using us. Every gadget we own was invented to make life more easy and simple, and, in Gods providence, every device, network, and program is given to us by God to use for His kingdom, His gospel, and His glory. God has called us to subdue the earth, and we do this by listening intently to His Word, meditating on it, carefully thinking through how to apply it, and being doers of it as we commune with God and live in community with one another in the family, the church, and the world. We are made for family, we are made for worship, we are made for community, and we are made to engage the world as we follow Jesus Christ, bringing the light of His gospel to a dark world. But in order to do this well, with biblical discernment, ancient wisdom, and enduring passion, we must recover the disciplines of listening, meditating, and thinking as we live coram Deo, before the face of God. Burk Parsons is editor of Tabletalk magazine and serves as co-pastor of Saint Andrews Chapel in Sanford, Florida. He is editor of the book Assured By God: Living in the Fullness of Gods Grace. You can follow him on Twitter @BurkParsons.

E X E C U T I V E E D I T O R R.C. SproulE D I T O R Burk ParsonsM A N A G I N G E D I T O R Scott Devor A S S O C I AT E E D I T O R S Greg Bailey, Keith A. Mathison, Robert RothwellC R E AT I V E D I R E C T O R Geoff StevensD E S I G N D I R E C T O R Jos Reyes for Metaleap CreativeM A R K E T I N G M A N A G E R John Cobb

Tabletalk (USPS 009-013) is published monthly by Ligonier Ministries, Inc., 421 Ligonier Ct, Sanford, FL 32771. Annual subscription price (12 issues): $23.00. Periodicals postage paid at Lake Mary, FL, and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Ligonier Ministries, 421 Ligonier Ct, Sanford, FL 32771. Unless noted, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. STATEMENT OF OWNERSHIP, MANAGEMENT, AND CIRCULATION: Required by Title 39 United States Code 3685. Title of publication: Tabletalk. Publication no.: 009013. Date of filing: 11/21/12. Frequency of issue: monthly. No. of issues published annually: 12. Annual subscription price: $23/yr. usa; $33/yr. foreign. Location of known office of publication: 421 Ligonier Ct, Sanford, Seminole Co., FL 32771. Mailing address of headquarters: 421 Ligonier Ct, Sanford, FL 32771. Publisher: Ligonier Ministries. Executive Editor: R.C. Sproul. Owner: Ligonier Ministries, a nonprofit educational organization. Known bondholders, mortgagees, and other security holders owning or holding 1 percent or more of total amount of bonds, mortgages, or other securities: none. The purpose, function, and nonprofit status of this organization and the exempt status for federal income tax purposes has not changed during the preceding 12 months. Total no. of copies printed (net press run): average/last year: 77,500; last issue: 80,000. Paid/requested circulation: 1) Sales through dealers and carriers, street vendors, and counter sales: average/last year: 3,429; last issue: 3,555; 2) Mail subscription: average/last year: 59,834; last issue: 59,867. Free distribution by mail, carrier, or other means: average/last year: 0; last issue: 0. Total non-requested distribution last year 7,889, last issue 8,178. Total distribution: average/last year: 72,440; last issue: 73,366. Copies not distributed: average/last year: 5,060; last issue: 6,634. Total: average/last year: 77,500; last issue: 80,000. I certify that the statements made by me above are correct and complete. Burk Parsons, editor

WE HAVE CONDITIONED OURSELVES TO DISTRACTION.

A C H A R I TA B L E R E AC T ION

R I G H T N O W

C O U N T S

F O R E V E R

B YR . C . S P R O U L

H as anyone ever said something unkind to you or about you? I think we all have had that experience. Becoming victims of slander or malicious gossip can be difficult to bear. However, God calls us to exhibit a very specific kind of response in such circumstances.

in heaven, a treasure no one can steal or defile (1 Peter 1:4). It is protected by the Lord Himself.

We might be tempted to think that Edwards was a spiritual giant who could handle personal attacks with ease, while we are ordinary believ-ers. How, then, can we not be dis-tressed when we are hurt by people we thought were our friends? Yet while it is true that it is part of our human nature to respond to personal attacks with sadness, anger, or bitter-ness, these feelings are part of our fallen humanity. They are not fruits of the Holy Spirit. This means that Edwards, as great a saint as he was, w a s no t c a l l i n g ord i n a r y Christians to do anything extraor-dinary. We are all called to bear our injuries with joy, patience, love, and gentleness.

This kind of response is required of all of us because the Christian life is about the imitation of Christ (1 Cor. 11:1). We are being molded into His image, so we are to strive to live as He lived. Our Lord was slandered and falsely accused of all kinds of offenses, but He opened not His mouth in protest (Isa. 53:7). Like a lamb, He accepted these vitriolic attacks, and, in the very moment of His passion, He prayed for the forgiveness of those who were attacking Him (Luke 23:34). This is how we are called to react to our enemies (1 Peter 4:13). Therefore, every false accusation, every slander, every ill word spoken about me is an opportunity for me to grow in my sanctification.

Edwards helped me see that I had allowed my soul to become distressed, and that was sin. Instead of seeing the attack on me as an occasion to imitate Christ and to grow in my sanctifica-

tion, I had resisted Gods Spirit, who had brought this painful event into my life for my edification, that I might remember where my treasure is.

The key to responding to attacks and insults as Christ would is to nur-ture love for God. Edwards writes:

As love to God prevails, it tends to set persons above human inju-ries, in this sense, that the more they love God the more they will place all their happiness in him.

They will look to God as their all and seek their happiness in por-tion in his favor, and thus not in the allotments of his providence alone. The more they love God, the less they set their hearts on their worldly interests, which are all that their enemies can touch.

We need to keep Edwards insight in mind as we deal with the inevitable attacks and insults that come our way in this life.

Years ago, I received a letter from a friend who is a pastor at a church in California. In it, the pastor included a copy of an article that had appeared in the Los Angeles Times. Although the article included a photo of him standing in his church and holding his Bible, it was basically a vicious personal attack against him.

When I saw that picture and read that article, I felt a great deal of empathy for my friend because I had recently had a similar experience. A person I believed was my friend made some very unkind statements about me publicly, and word had gotten back to me. My feelings basi-cally vacillated between despon-dency and anger, even though I knew I needed to respond with joy (Matt. 5:1112).

I believe the greatest book ever written about the virtue of love in the Christian life is Jonathan Edwards classic Charity and Its Fruits. In this book, Edwards included a chapter on how we are to respond to fa lse charges. There, he makes the biblical point that such attacks should not

surprise us; rather, we should expect them:

Men that have their spirits heated and enraged and rising in bitter resentment when they are injured act as if they thought some strange thing had happened to them. Whereas they are very foolish in so thinking for it is no strange thing at all but only what was to be expected in a world like this. They therefore do not act wisely that allow their spirits to be ruffled by the injuries they suffer.

Edwards point is that if the Christian expects to be slandered and keeps his eyes focused on God when it happens, he will not be depressed over it.

Edwards reinforces the concept that other human beings can harm only my worldly pleasure. A person can injure my body, steal my money, or even destroy my reputation. However, all of these things have to do only with the cares and pleasures of this world. But we have an inheritance that is laid up

Every false accusation, every slander, every ill word spoken about me is an opportunity for me to grow in my sanctification.

Dr. R.C. Sproul is chairman of

Ligonier Ministries, co-pastor of

Saint Andrews Chapel, and author

of the teaching series Joy and

Developing Christian Character.

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Lying somewhere in the home of each person reading this a r t icle is a Bible. Maybe

more than one. The fact that nearly every Christian in the West has his own Bible is a rather recent privi-lege. For roughly the first fifteen hundred years of church history, Bibles were fairly scarce and pro-tected. The printing press was not invented until the mid-1400s, and the ability for each Christian fam-ily to have its own Bible came much later. Our freedom to have them as we do was one of the great achieve-ments of the Reformation. Thus, today, each Christian home probably has several Bibles; maybe more than one for each person. Yet for all those Bibles, how much time do we spend not just reading them but expecting to hear God speak in and through them? Surrounded by Gods Word, we rarely listen to Him speak. In this article, we will ref lect on the great privilege that we have of not only hearing God speak to us in His Word, but also of praying Gods Word back to Him.

What is Gods Word? Too often, we treat the Bible as a book of stories about other people. Whether we realize it or not, we have been influ-enced by a modern (or postmodern) view of history. This view posits such a great distance between the then of the Bible and the now of our lives that the Bible seems to have lost its meaning and relevance. It is as though the Bible has been suf-focated by history, and its vitality for many has been vanquished. Like the old, large family Bible, Gods Word often retains our respect, but it has been relegated to the hallway of history, where it has joined the

dated pictures of those who went before us, but whose voices are no longer heard. I would like to suggest that it is time to remove the dustnot from our Bibles, but from our hearts and minds, and that we re-read it as the living voice of the living God.

Let us consider 2 Timothy 3:1617:

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.

The language of God breathing out His Word is noteworthy. It reminds us that God is a speaking God. He does not simply exist, nor is He the ultimate recluse who remains hidden; rather, He is the God who speaks. The Bible is replete with reflection on God speaking. It begins and ends that way, and is filled from cover to cover with God speaking to His people. It was by His speaking that God first created. In Genesis 1 we are told repeatedly that God spoke . . . and it was so. When God speaks, things happen. He could have simply created without speaking, and yet He spoke. We should not lose sight of the fact that there is always pur-pose behind Gods speaking. That purpose is ultimately His own glory. All that He does will ultimately bring glory to Himself, and all that He says will do the same. That is why He spoke creation into existencefor His own glory.

Another important connection between creation and 2 Timothy 3:1617 is the creation of Adam in

LISTENING

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Genesis 2:7: Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nos-trils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. It is a curious thing that when God first created Adam, he was lifeless. He had a body, but no breath. He was like the opening verses of Genesis: creation begun, but not completed. B u t t h a t c h a n g e d w h e n G o d breathed. Just as God breathed life into creation by speaking it into existence, He breathed life into Adam personally, filling him with the breath of life. It was soAdam became a living being, but in a way that rises above the rest of creation.

Adam was uniquely created by God to bear Gods image and bring God glory. Man, in the image of God, would glorify and enjoy God in ways that far transcend the rest of cre-ation. In this sense, he was unique-ly created and uniquely inspired.

This brings us back to Gods Word, and to 2 Timothy 3:1617 in particular. This verse teaches us t hat G ods Word ha s a lso been u n iquely i n spi re d . It i s G o d-breathed, similar to the creation of the earth in Genesis 1 and similar to the creation of Adam in Genesis 2. The chief end of Gods Word is to bring Him glory. God Himself prom-ises to preserve His Word by the same Holy Spirit through which He first inspired it. It transcends time, space, and histor y because it is bound to the Spirit of God, who cannot be suffocated by the sands of time, cast out of the world, or changed by the f low of history. In

o t her word s , t he Bi ble s truthfulness and relevance do not depend upon man and his designs. Gods Word is bound to God Himself. Thus, the problem between us and Gods Word has much more to do with us than it does with Gods Word.

If it makes us feel any bet-ter, this problem of hearing, understanding, believing and obeying Gods Word is not new. The disciples of Jesus illustrate the problem as well a s a nyone, maybe bet ter. After all, they were in His presence. They hea rd t he words themselves. They saw Jesus speak and act. They dra n k t he best w ine t hat

cheered many, ate the miraculous bread that fed thousands, saw the lame walk, the blind see, and the dead rise. Who more tha n they should have believed? Yet how many times did our patient Lord have to endure their unbelief at His Word?

How many times did He say, You of little faith?

At this point, John 20:22 comes to us like a glass of life-giving water in a valley of dry bones. And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit (emphasis mine). Why did Jesus breathe on them? Could it be that Jesus, the Word made f lesh, the One who breathed life into the first creation, was now the resur-rected Son of God who breathes life into the new creation? Just as Adam was breathed into and received the spirit of life, Jesus breathed on His disciples a nd they received the Spirit of eternal life. Those who once were blind to the truth of Gods Word could now see. Those who once were deaf could now hear. The Holy Spirit had now been given to His people, and those cowering, fickle, obstinate, perplexed disci-ples (dont they sound much like you and me?) f inally understood and believed what Jesus had been telling them all along. They now understood His cross and king-domthat the former is the means to the latter. They now understood that true life can be found only in Him and that His life was given for them. They now understood that all the stories of the Bible set the stage for the climactic stor y of Christ s death and resurrection. They now believed and proclaimed His Word boldly. They clung to it as though it were the very Word of life, the Word of the living God. What the Spirit had been promised to do in them (guiding them into a life-giving relationship with Gods Word) wa s now being f ulf i l led under the new covenant. Perhaps

this is why Paul sees Gods Word as able to complete (NKJV) the man of God. The Spirit-inspired Word is the primary tool by which God continues His work of glorifying Himself, and He does this by saving and sanctifying men and women through it. Gods Word is not only alive, it is life-giving (Heb. 4:10).

Gods inspired Word not only brings us across the line of conver-sion, it illumines our path as we journey with God to our heavenly home. It tells us where we are going and how we must live as we travel through this world. Through it, God speaks to us as we make our journey not simply to Him but also with H i m . Th i s i s why, s o of t en i n Scripture, we see Gods people pray-ing and singing Gods Word back to Him. The Psalms are f illed with Spirit-inspired songs and prayers. Who is better than God at writing songs that will praise and honor Him? Who is better than He to teach us ways to pray? While other words may be creatively used in song and prayer to God, we should certainly consider incorporating Gods own words.

How much of a privilege do we count it to listen to God speak to us in His Word? The proof is in the reading, and not just the reading, but in the heeding. Christ promises to come to us again and again; He does so by His Spirit-inspired Word. May we find grace to come to Him through His Word and to listen as He speaks.

Rev. Eric B. Watkins is senior minister of Covenant

Presbyterian Church (OPC) in Saint Augustine, Florida.

He also serves as an adjunct professor at Reformation

Bible College.

The Spirit-inspired Word is the primary

tool by which God continues His work of

glorifying Himself, and He does this by saving

and sanctifying men and women through it. Gods Word is not only

alive, it is life-giving (Heb. 4:10).

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How well do you communicate? Most of us will answer in light of our ability to present our

thoughts and ideas in cogent ways. But I would suggest that the finest art of communication in our family life is not expressing our ideas. It is under-standing the thoughts and ideas of the other people in the family.

This is a recurring theme of the book of Proverbs. A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion (Prov. 18:2). The agenda of a fool in conversation is getting things off his chest. Even when he is not speaking, he is not truly listening. He is simply shaping what he will say next. His next volley in the conversation is not returning the ball you served, but serving a new ball.

We have all been fools in conversa-tion. Years ago, I had a late-night talk with my son. I had something to say. He quickly realized that he would be listening. At the end of my monologue I said: Well, I am glad we had a chance to talk. I am going to pray with you and go to bed. Within minutes, he was knocking on my bedroom door: Dad, you said you were glad we had a good talk. I just wanted to point out that I did not say anything. I was a fool that night. I could have had a real conversation. I could have asked good questions. Everything I wanted to say could have been said in the context of drawing my son out. Instead, I found no pleasure in understanding him; I was interested only in expressing my own opinion.

A later verse in Proverbs 18 observes, If one gives an answer before he hears, it is his folly and shame. (v. 13) The fool responds without really hearing, with no care-ful thought or consideration. Speaking

in haste is shameful. When we dont listen, we disclose a low regard for the others words and a high regard for our own.

Parents frequently answer before listening. Your daughter begins to ask a question, but you interrupt her: I know what you are going to ask. The answer is, No.

But, Dad, she responds.What part of No do you not

understand?But, Dad, I didnt even ask my

question.You dont have to ask your ques-

tion. Im your dad, I know what youre going to say before you speak.

My daughter never walks away from this interchange grateful for a father who can read minds. She feels provoked. She feels powerless in the face of my caprice. I may have even violated the warning of Ephesians 6:4: Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger.

Notice the virtue of listening in Proverbs 20:5: The purpose in a mans heart is like deep water, but a man of understanding will draw it out. The goals and motivations of the human heart are not easily discovered. The patience, skill, and ability of an understanding person are required to draw out those deep waters.

Various nuances of the importance of listening are ref lected in these verses. Proverbs 18:2 places a priority on where we find pleasure in conver-sation. The wise man delights in understanding the person with whom he is speaking. Proverbs 18:13 empha-sizes slowing down so that we may answer with full comprehension of what is being said. Proverbs 20:5 focuses on active listening. Listen to what is being said and to what is not

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being said, and ask questions that draw out the deep waters within the heart.

Family life thrives on thoughtful listening. We show respect for others when we listen. Listening says: I value you and what you are saying; I value it so highly that I will do whatever I can to facilitate your communication. I believe that the time taken to listen is a good investment. I will listen and find joy in understanding the meaning and intent of your words.

Active listening strengthens rela-tionships. Wives, children, and hus-bands long to be understood. What could better express a desire for meaningful relationships than listen-ing? What could better communicate a desire to know and understand someone? When you listen to others, your influence in their lives increases. Relationships are strengthened.

Listening tightens the knots of loyalt y and commitment to one another. People long to be understood, to sense that their words carry weight, that their ideas receive a thoughtful hearing.

Thoughtful listening is important for family life. Your family is your childs most foundational social com-munity. Family life will f lourish in homes where people not only talk but also listen. What builds unity in mar-riage and loyalty in children? A husband who listens, who delights in understanding, builds a marriage. A wife who hears and can even reframe her husbands words in her own words builds a marriage. Couples who are skillful at asking questions that draw out the hearts deep waters build a marriage. Does your spouse feel his or her words are valued, that you will delight in understanding,

and try to grasp and to think through issues with clarity? Does your spouse feel safe; that his or her words will not be twisted to your convenience? Listening spouses model effective communication skills and biblical relationships for watching children.

We want our children to be good listeners. We want them to value our words, so we model for our children the kind of listening skills we wish to instill. Solomons words to his son could not be clearer:

My son, keep your fatherscommandment, and forsake not your mothers teaching.

Bind them on your heart always;tie them around your neck.

When you walk, they will lead you;when you lie down, they will watch over you; and when you awake, they will talk with you.

For the commandment is a lampand the teaching a light, and the reproofs of discipline are the way of life (Prov. 6:2023).

Thoughtful listening provides children with great treasures: guid-ance, protection, and instruction. Light and life are all found by listen-ing to Mom and Dad.

What keeps us from being thought-ful listeners? There are both simple and profound answers. The simple answer is that listening is expensive. It requires changing the pace at which we live our lives. It takes time. I remember one night having a conver-sation with a long-term houseguest. I asked a question and sat while he pondered the answer for forty-five minutes. That may be extreme, but conversation is often punctuated by long pauses of musing, ref lecting,

organizing thoughts and ideas. Frequently a thorough conversa-tion with a good listener will be t he a nv i l on wh ich complex thoughts and deep feelings are hammered out.

The more profound answer to the question has to do with our humanity. We are members of a fallen race. We are proud, and proud people dont listen well. We are fearful people, and fear keeps us from entrusting ourselves to others. We think more highly of ourselves than we ought. We are f re quent ly h a rdene d by t he deceitfulness of sin. We are compul-sively self-serving and often too full of ourselves to humbly listen to oth-ers.

These are not just communication skill problems, they are spiritual problems. Our pride, fear, and self-love all work against the humility defined in James 1: Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God (vv. 1920). Radical internal renova-tion is needed if we are to be quick to hear and slow to speak.

Thankfully, we are not left to our own resources and efforts at self-improvement. Christ came into our world. Think of how the incarnation speaks to our communication needs. He so valued understanding and iden-tifying with us that He took on flesh. Jesus did not stay off in the heavens watching our struggles. He came to us. He took on flesh like ours. He had a human psychology. He experienced everything we experience without ever sinning. He lived in our world. He is able to see the world through

our eyes. Hebrews 2 reminds us that He had to be made like His brothers in every way; He had to fully identify with us so that He could redeem us. That means He knows our struggles with listening. He, too, was tempted to speak when He should have lis-tened. Isaiah 53:7 says that, as our sacrifice, He did not even open His mouth. Our Savior has gone into this challenge ahead of us. And He has triumphed. He got it right.

Jesus Christs experience of the same struggles we face with listening is the key for us. Because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted (Heb. 2:18). This means I can go to a willing, able, powerful Savior in my times of struggle. His experience of life in my worldas the One who remains fully man and fully Godenables Him to help me in the face of the temptation to speak when I should listen.

Dr. Tedd Tripp is an author, conference speaker, and

elder at Grace Fellowship Church in Hazelton, Pa. He is

author of Shepherding a Childs Heart and, with his wife,

Margy, Instructing a Childs Heart.

We are not left to our own resources and efforts at self-improvement. Christ came into our world. He so valued understanding and identifying with us that He took on flesh.

If spiritual life comes through the Word of God (Isa. 55:1011; Rom. 10:17; James 1:21; 1 Peter 1:23), why

not skip church with all its hassles and just devote yourself to studying the Bible? Think of the time you would save, not to mention the relational trouble.

Or, better, why not download the three best podcast preachers every week and listen to them? Chances are that they are better preachers than old Pastor Bob down the street anyway. Can I get an Amen?

I suspect most Christians would have a vague sense that there is some-thing wrong with this counsel. But the fact that we expect so little from our preachers in terms of biblical exposi-tion, the fact that precious few seconds are devoted to actually reading the Bible in our weekly gatherings, the fact that we give scarcely a thought to not stay-ing up late Saturday night so that were not drifting off in the middle of Sundays sermon all suggest that we dont really apprehend the tight link between listen-ing to the Word in church and our individual and corporate growth as Christians.

For starters, Gods Word creates the church, not detached Christians. It creates a group of believers who are covenantally united in one Lord, faith, baptism, and remission of sins. So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls (Acts 2:38, 41; 4:4; 6:7). Gods Word actually creates local churches. It unites you and me to other Christians, and the local church is the place on planet earth where we demonstrate and practice our Word-created unity.

You will find, therefore, that Bible understanding and Bible living work best in the context of church member-

ship. Here are seven reasons our growth should be centered on listening to Gods Word in the context of the local church: 1. FOR THE SAKE OF OBEDIENCE. The author of Hebrews tells his readers, Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another (Heb. 10:2425). How do we stir up and encourage others when we gather? With Gods Word. This is what we see the early church doinggather-ing to listen and encourage: And they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and the fellowship (Acts 2:42). 2. FOR THE SAKE OF RECEIVING JESUS GIFTS. Paul tells us that after Jesus ascended, He gave the gifts of pastors and teachers to His church (Eph. 4:811). Your elders are gifts. They are bet-ter gifts than anything you will find wrapped under a tree, because these gifts will build up you and your broth-ers and sisters in Christ until you reach maturity, unity, and Christlikeness (vv. 1214). Think about it: Jesus loves you so much that He has grabbed a bunch of men by the collar, pulled them off their career tracks, and told them to devote their lives to serving you and your favorite Christian friends by study-ing the Bible and explaining it to youevery week. Are you not amazed? And even if the well-known podcast pastor is a better preacher, he doesnt know your congregation, and hes not apply-ing the Word to you like old Bob will. 3. FOR THE SAKE OF LIVE ILLUSTRA-TIONS OF THE WORD. Paul writes, Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in

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us (Phil. 3:17; 2 Tim. 3:1011). Paul wants Christians to have words and live illustrations of those words. We need a church community around us to exem-plify the message. Pastors, especially, must watch their life and doctrine. 4. FOR THE SAKE OF GODLY FRIEND-SHIPS. We imitate and follow our friends, adopting their language and life patterns. We spend money where they spend money. We raise our chil-dren like they raise their children. We pray like they pray. Friends are surely valuable outside the local church, but friends within a church will be formed

by the same ministry of the Word, giv-ing them the opportunity to extend that ministry more carefully into one anothers lives throughout the week. 5. FOR THE SAKE OF LEARNING HOW TO ALIGN OUR HEART S TO GODS HEART THROUGH SONG. Singing is one activity in which Gods Word grabs hold of our hearts and aligns our emotions and affections with His. Therefore, a churchs songs should contain nothing more than the words, paraphrases, or truths of Scripture. Churches sing together because it helps us to see that

our hearts praises, confessions, and resolutions are shared. Were not alone. 6. FOR THE SAKE OF LEARNING HOW TO PRAY. If God aligns our affections and emotions to His Word through song, He teaches us to align our wills and ambitions to His Word through prayer. Hearing older saints pray is how we learn to pray biblically. Christian praying increasingly con-forms to the intentions of Gods Word. So we will adore, confess, give thanks, and ask for those things that His Word reveals.

7. FO R T HE S A K E O F N O N -CHRISTIANS AND THE GOSPEL. Ask any non-Christian who has attended a church gathering what happened there, and (hope-fully) he or she will report that Gods Word was discussed, and maybe that conviction came (see 1 Cor. 14:24). Paul reminds the Galatians that they had received the gospel when Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified through preaching (Gal. 3:1). The Word-centered gathering is where God has placed an embas-

sy among the nations to declare: Jesus is Lord. Turn to him.

So listen attentively on Sunday. Take notes. Discuss the passage with your family afterward. Let your prayers be guided by the preachers main points for the rest of the week. Encourage your elders with prayer. And then thank God for His Word, His church, and His ministers. What remarkable gifts.

Encourage your elders with prayer and

encouragements. And then thank God for His Word, His church, and

His ministers. What remarkable gifts.

Jonathan Leeman is the editorial director of 9Marks and

the author of Reverberation: How Gods Word Brings

Light, Freedom, and Action to His People and Church

Discipline: How the Church Protects the Name of Jesus.

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R E C O M M E N D E D R E S O U R C E S

A Blueprint for Thinking B Y R . C . S P RO U L

Understanding another persons worldview is key to listening critically and compassionately. This series outlines the basic elements of worldview thinking.

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Loving God with All Your Mind B Y G E N E E D WA R D V E I T H

Gene Edward Veith examines the lordship of Christ over the mind, steering us clear of intellectual autonomy and irrationalism.

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Think Like a Christian B Y R . C . S P RO U L

Christ calls us to love God with our minds. Dr. R.C. Sproul explores this key teaching, helping us to think

like a Christian in all of life.

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Think: The Life of the Mind and the Love of God

B Y J O H N P I P E R

John Piper looks at the impor-tance of our thinking and how it can be used in the service of Christ Jesus.

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Listening and Thinking Well

The Christian Mind: 2012 National Conference VA R I O U S S P E A K E R S

Sinclair Ferguson, Robert God-frey, Stephen Meyer, R.C. Sproul, R.C. Sproul Jr., and several others explore the role of sound thinking in the Christian life.

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The Consequences of Ideas B Y R . C . S P RO U L

This survey of philosophy looks at the important ideas of his-torys most renowned thinkers, and it shows how the ideas of the past have consequences that are still felt today.

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Shepherding a Childs HeartB Y T E D D T R I P P

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L i s tening and the Fami ly

Instructing a Childs HeartB Y T E D D & M A R G Y T R I P P

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Give Them Grace: Dazzling Your Kids with

the Love of JesusB Y E LY S E M . F I T Z PAT R I C K

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Age of Opportunity: A Bibli-cal Guide to Parenting Teens

B Y PAU L DAV I D T R I P P

The teenage years offer unique challenges to all parents and many opportunities for

disruption and frustration. This work gets to the heart of the matter, helping parents learn to listen to their teenagers and understand

what is behind their words and deeds.AGE01BP Z PRBK, 291 PAGES Z (RETAIL $15) $12

The Intimate MarriageB Y R.C. S P RO U L

For decades, many believers have found The Intimate Marriage to be a valuable resource for developing and maintaining a godly and fulfilling relationship with ones

spouse. Dr. R.C. Sproul covers the theological foundation of marriage and addresses issues

that arise between married couples.

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The Family Worship BookB Y T E R RY L . J O H N S O N

A respected teacher on the subject of Reformed worship provides a guide to starting and maintaining devotions that are engaging and spiritually meaningful for the entire family.

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Intercede for and with Your Family

B Y A RC H I E PA R R I S H

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volume examines biblical guidelines for family worship, instructing us on how we may

intercede for our loved ones.

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Tending Your GardenB Y D E N I S E S P RO U L

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Bound for GloryB Y R .C . S P RO U L J R .

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Parenting by Gods Promises

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Christians should listen to the Word of God, of course, in the sense of heeding it, following

it, and taking it in. Listening to the competing voices of the world in that way can get us into trouble. But there is another sense in which we do need to listen to what the world is saying. Paying attention can help us avoid the worlds errors and can make us more effective witnesses and evangelists.

The Bible commends King Davids allies from the tribe of Issachar, men who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do (1 Chron. 12:32). These men did not advocate going along with the times, as the false proph-ets of Israels apostasy would later do. Rather, the men of Issachar understood the timesincluding, doubtless, the allure of Canaanite idolatry in those daysan understanding that helped keep Israel faithful.

An important reason for listening to the world is to recognize false philoso-phies and worldviews, lest they infect our Christian faith. For example, one of the governing assumptions of the world today is progressivism. This view takes for granted that what is new is always better than what is old. Thus, progres-sive educators tend to cut out or attack our heritage of old books and old ideas in favor of new ideas, the latest devel-opments, and cutting-edge thinking.

Such language appeals to most of us, since we are, like it or not, denizens of our culture. But among the old ideas progressivism has no use for is Christianity, and the belief in progressthat things are getting better and better over against the darkness of the pastis one of the main vehicles for excising Christianity from society.

If we listen carefully to progressiv-ists, we will note the syndrome that the

Apostle Paul faced in the intellectual center of Athens: All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except tell-ing or hearing something new (Acts 17:21). We will also see the marks of Darwinism, the notion that we are ever evolving to a higher level.

Believers, having considered the source, then notice the fallacies. Progress in science and technology is real, but it builds on past truths without rejecting them. Computers dont have to be re-invented in order to keep getting better; innovations expand what they already do. Knowledge accumulates, so it can increase. Scientists and engineers know this, but artists, authors, and philosophers keep trying to start over from ground zero in the humanities. Thus, they dont really progressthey become primitive.

The point is this: Christianswho have no patience with Darwinistic materialismoften sound as progressive as the most ardent evolutionist. They look for new theologies, new ways of worship, and new music, being quite willing to toss out their entire old-fashioned Christian heritage. Such thinking comes from a failure to under-stand the times in which we live.

Pragmatism is another non-Chris-tian philosophy that has found its way into the church. Since we can never know what is true or good, according to pragmatist philosophers, we should simply do what works, conceived of in material terms. This is an important strain of American philosophy, from the modernist John Dewey with his atheism and socialism to the postmodernist Richard Rorty with his relativism and leftist politics. Few Christians would agree with these philosophers if they listened to them, but simplified prag-


LISTENING

TO THE WORLD

B Y G E N E E D W A R D V E I T H


matism can be heard constantly in church committee meetings, church-growth seminars, and books for pastors. What worksto increase church attendance, attract non-Christians, bring in more money, or achieve anoth-er goalcan trump all theological, historical, and biblical considerations.

Another reason to listen carefully to the world is given in Scripture: If one gives an answer before he hears, says Solomon, it is his folly and shame (Prov. 18:13). In evangelizing non-believers, we need to hear them so that the answers we give as Christians will address their questions and respond to issues they are struggling with.

In many conversations, Christians and non-Christians talk past each other.

The Christian may be running through an evangelism spiel from memory, while the person being witnessed to is trying to understand why God let his mom die of cancer. The non-Christian may start a political argument, while the Christian is raising spiritual issues. In apologetics, we often give a rational argument for Christianity to postmodernists who reject reason. Often the church address-es issues only after the culture has moved on. Churches trying to reach young people turn to folk songs and pop music when their young people scorn those styles in favor of rock and rap.

By first listening to those we are trying to reach, we can avoid giving pat, canned, impersonal answers. Instead,

we can address them personally, authen-tically, and soul to soul. If they sense we are truly listening to them, they may grant us a hearing. They will feel that we have earned the right to be heard.

We can listen superficiallyhearing their vile, violent music just to condemn it and themor we can listen more deeply and notice why this music is so angry. As Mary Eberstadt has shown, most of it is about being abandoned, especially by a father. By the same token, the person struggling with his mothers death is not asking for just an abstract treatise in theodicy (a defense of Gods goodness and power given the existence of evil); rather, this can become the occasion of acquainting him with Jesus who Himself died, taking on all death

including His mothersand defeating it through His resur-rection. Pragmatists who are impatient with abstraction can be pointed to the God who became flesh. We can agree with the relativist that the world alone gives no basis for universal truth but then introduce him to the

Way, the Truth, and the Life.If we listen carefully to the world

and to those trapped in the world, with its futility and sin, we can hear the cry of the lost behind the cacophony of false ideas and twisted worldviews. That can awaken our empathy and compassion in such a way that we can effectively do what the Apostle calls for: Always [be] prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you . . . with gentleness and respect (1 Peter 3:15).

In many conversations, Christians and

non-Christians talk past each other.

Dr. Gene Edward Veith is academic dean of Patrick

Henry College in Purcellville, Virginia, and director of the

Cranach Institute at Concordia Theological Seminary in

St. Louis, Missouri.

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Communion of Saints B Y R . C . S P RO U L

Worship, discipline, when to leave a church, and other important topics are all addressed bibli-cally and pastorally in

this teaching series by Dr. R.C. Sproul.

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How Sermons Work B Y DAV I D M U R R AY

David Murray looks at Sunday sermons in this work, demon-strating that hours of labor go into the preparation of these messages from Gods Word. It is a great gift for those prepar-ing for the preaching ministry.

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Listening and the Church

Why We Love the Church BY K E V I N D E YO U N G

& T E D K L U C K

This work defends the local church in all its glory and messiness, explaining why believers must loveand belongto the visible church.

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The Family at Church: Listening to Sermons and

Attending Prayer MeetingsB Y J O E L R . B E E K E

Dr. Joel R. Beeke helps us better receive all that we are supposed to in corporate worship and prayer in this helpful booklet on preparing families for public worship and the importance

of the churchs regular prayer meeting.FAM08BP Z PRBK, 80 PAGES Z (RETAIL $6) $4.80

War of Words: Getting to the Heart of Your

Communication StrugglesB Y PAU L DAV I D T R I P P

Our words can harm or heal, build up or destroy. This book examines the power, gift, blessing, effect, and danger of what we say.

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Rev. Matthew Miller is senior pastor of Greenville

A s s o c iate Reform e d Pre s by ter ian Church in

Greenville, S.C.

age. Given that we have been called to be heralds and stewards of a divine message, we cannot be blamed for wanting to make sure we are being heard.

But in this jostling for the atten-tion of the flock, we are prone to miss the importance of listeninglistening not only to the Lord (which others in this issue have addressed), but listen-ing also to our people, as well as to the advice of fellow pastors and elders. Yet it is the Lord Himself who tells us in His Word, Let every per-son be quick to hear, slow to speak (James 1:19). Every person includes preachers, too.

We must, like Paul and the author of Hebrews, have our fingers on the pulse of our people in order to gauge how best to feed them from the pul-pit. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3:2, I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it (see also Heb. 5:12). When I began my preach-ing ministry, one of my ninety-year-old members gently chastened me after he heard a sermon in which I overshot the congregation. He said:

Can I give you a piece of advice from an old man? You need to keep the cookie jar within reach of the chil-drens hands. It wasnt until later

that afternoon that I let his kind crit icism penet rate my nat ura l defenses, and I have been grateful for his feedback ever since. If we want to feed our people for real spiritual growth, we must know where they are at each stage along the way. Know well the condition of your flocks (Prov. 27:23). That takes some listening.

We must also listen carefully to our members individually to discern where they really are with Christ. Paul says to the Galatians, My little children, for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you! (4:19). It is easy for pastors mistakenly to suppose that our supporters are spiritually healthy and our detractors are not. But there are always many who love the pastor who are far from Christ, and many who have complaints against the pastor that are well-grounded. We must listen more deeply, and ask ourselves whether we hear Christ being formed in our peoplein their passing requests for prayer, in their words spoken from the hospital bed,

in the way they voice their angst about the state of the country, do we hear the grammar of union with Christ in His death and resurrection? Do we hear the doctrine of sanctifica-tion personally embraced? Do we hear a present enjoyment of the kingdom of God coupled with a pining for its future consummation? Or do we hear instead hopes and sighs pulsing with the beat of moralistic therapeutic deism? They may lead ministries in our churches with enthusiasm and competence, but are they still terri-fied of dying? These are the things we must listen for not only in their words, but even in their tones.

Lastly, we must listen to fellow elders and other pastors, as much for our personal well-being as for the sake of our ministries. Being ordained does not elevate us above the warning

in Proverbs 21:2: Every way of a man is right in his own eyes. We all know men who lost their ministry positions not because of any great moral failure or glaring incompetence, but rather on account of stubbornness or dis-couragement that went unchecked with debilitating consequences. In such cases, it is not uncommon to learn that these men were relation-ally isolated, lacking the kinds of iron-sharpening-iron relationships with elders and other pastors that could have delivered a ministry-saving rebuke or a soul-nourishing word of encouragement (Prov. 27:17; 27:6; 12:25).

Years ago, J. Oswald Sanders observed in his classic Spiritual Leadership: You can measure leaders by the number and quality of their friends. Augustine was a man who prized friendship (ref lections on friendship abound in The Confessions and in his sermons). John Calvins friendship with Pierre Viret (15111571), as revealed in their many let-ters, shows Calvins longing for and great dependence on friendship. In our churchs recent search for a new director of music, my first question to the candidates was: Tell me about your closest friends. Can you share any times when their counsel led you to change course?

Pastors need friendships with co-laborers. Every Timothy needs a Paul, and every Paul needs a Titus (2 Cor. 2:13; 8:23). If you find yourself

without such friendships, you would do well to begin making this a mat-ter of prayer. Sometimes the heart needs time to be prepared for friend-ship, so that our ears would then be open to what a godly friend might say.

Yes, we must hear and heed the Lord first and above all. But, accord-ing to His Word, we must also listen to those under and alongside us. The quality of our lives and ministries depends on it.

P astors sense deeply the frustration of trying to get our message through to our people. Almost daily, our mailboxes are filled with flyers offering seminars on how we can tailor our sermons and use social media more effectively to

break through the clutter of our communication

P A S T O R S P E R S P E C T I V E

M A T T H E W M I L L E R

LISTENING AND THE PASTOR

BEING ORDAINED DOES NOT ELEVATE US ABOVE THE WARNING

IN PROVERBS 21:2: EVERY WAY OF A MAN IS RIGHT IN HIS OWN EYES.


Dr. R.C. Sproul Jr. is a teaching fellow of Ligonier

Ministries and founder of Highlands Ministries. He is

author of the video series Economics for Everybody. You

can follow him on Twitter @RCSproulJr.

seek to suppress t hat t r ut h i n unrighteousness. The lexical back-ground of the Greek word trans-lated as suppress suggests something like a heavy metal spring that we try to hold down as long as we can. I believe, however, that we get closer to the spirit of our sin if we see ourselves, as God is speaking to us, running about with our fingers in our ears shouting, La, la, la, la, la; I cant hear you!

Consider how unbelievers in the West tend to live their lives. They may not have their fingers in their ears, but they likely have their ear-buds in their ears. They surround themselves constantly with noise. At work, they have talk radio on. In the car, they play music. When they get home, they turn on the television and become distracted with their eyes as well as their ears. They hyper-schedule their days, moving from one thing that demands their attention to another, their smart-phones buzzing and beeping their daily orders.

We who have been redeemed by

His grace, howev-er, live much dif-ferently, dont we? We dont need the constant noise of p o p c u l t u r e t o drown out our own thoughts. We are

busy speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. We are meditating day and night on the glor y, the richness, and the beauty of the Word of God. We, who have already received the pearl of great price, who have been promised eternal blessing and the drying of every tear, want nothing more than an opportunity for silence so that we can enter into the fullness of the gospel of our Lord. We want quiet t hat we might contemplate t he peace. We seek out our prayer clos-ets that we might give thanks.

Wait. Is that what we do? Is that how we live? Or are we instead mir-ror images of our neighbors? We might, if we are pious, order our pop culture from the PG side of the menu. We might carve out twenty minutes of quiet for prayer and contemplation. But we are still con-sumed with consuming pop culture, with surrounding ourselves with noise, and for much the same reason We dont, in the West, take the time to think because we dont want to face not just the hard lesson of life

under the sunlife is short and then we diebut also the much harder lesson of life lived under the Sonlife is short, then we die, and hell lasts forever.

Now, to be sure, we know that we will not suffer for all eternity. That is our neighbors fear, not our own. The fears that plague us are much more tame. We worry about our retirement accounts. We worry about our job security. We worry about the economy and the Middle East. We worry about our reputa-tions, what people say and think about us. We worry so much that we worry about what well worry about when we get to heaven.

The heathen know from creation itself that their Creator will bring judgment down on them. We, on the other hand, have been given a book. This book tells us about His grace. It tells us about all that is ours in Christ , that ever y thing that He brings into our lives is for our good and His glory. It tells us on every page that He loves us with an ever-lasting love and that nothing can thwart His will. This means we should be at peace. We should set aside our worries. We should remove our fingers from our ears that we might hear the music of the rolling spheres magnifying His name. We should no longer cry out, La, la, la,

la; I cant hear you! but, Speak, Lord, for your servant hears.

What we need, as we seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, is to be still and know that He is God. We dont need to turn up the volume of His revelation but turn off the noise. We dont need Him to make bigger promises. We need eyes to see what He has already prom-ised. We dont need better, cleaner noise than the heathen. We need silence.

When we stop; when we take a deep breath; when we rest; when we put to death our vain desires, vain imaginings, and vain distractions; when, in fact, we not only quit the

rat race but finish the race He has set before us; and when we draw our last breaths we will hear with per-fect clarity what He has been saying to us from the moment we were reborn: This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased. And then well hear heavenly choirs of angels promising, And He shall reign for-ever and ever. Seek first the king-dom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.

T he world, Paul tells us, knows whats coming. Romans 1 not only highlights the universal guilt of all men, but, ironically, defines that guilt as the denial of what we know. We know that there is a God and that we fail to meet His standard. We know, in short, that we are in trouble. But, we

S E E K Y E F I R S T

R . C . S P R O U L J R .

THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS

HE LOVES US WITH AN EVERLASTING LOVE AND NOTHING CAN THWART HIS WILL. THIS

MEANS WE SHOULD BE AT PEACE. WE SHOULD SET ASIDE OUR WORRIES. WE SHOULD

REMOVE OUR FINGERS FROM OUR EARS THAT WE MIGHT HEAR THE MUSIC OF THE ROLLING

SPHERES MAGNIFYING HIS NAME.


2WED | JAN


1TUE | JAN

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Deuteronomy 18:1522 Amos 3:7

Ephesians 2:1121 James 5:10

THE BIBLE IN A YEAR

Genesis 12 Matthew 1

Because God has fully and finally revealed Himself in His Son, we believe that the Lord does not call people to the office of prophet today (Heb. 1:14). That does not mean, however, that there is no one to be Gods spokesperson today. Preachers who faithfully preach the Word of God do speak for Him insofar as their messages are faithful to the Bible. When the preacher delivers a sermon that is faithful to Scripture, we are bound to heed it.

T he Christian faith proclaims the truth about God and His work to the world. We saw this in various ways last year during our study of the major biblical doctrines proclaimed in the Heidelberg Catechism. This year, we are going to devote our daily Bible studies to the lives and messages of the men who may be considered the chief human proclaimers or preachers of the Lords truth during the old covenant periodthe Old Testament prophets.

Prophet, as a term and an office, tends to be widely misunderstood. Many people think of prophets as those who predict the far-off future, men and women who have supernatural insight into what will happen in centuries yet to come. Of course, many of the Old Testament prophets did have such perception. We think of men such as Isaiah, who foresaw in detail the Messiahs atonement and resurrection more than 750 years before the events on Calvary (Isa. 53). Consider also Daniel, who predicted the rise and fall of Alexander the Great more than two hundred years prior to Alexanders conquests (Dan. 11:14).

Nevertheless, predicting the future was not the Old Testament prophets major responsibility. Our English word prophet is usually a translation of the Hebrew term nabi, which means to call or to proclaim. Prophet also translates other Hebrew words that mean servant of the Lord and watcher or seer. From these terms, as well as the actual content of the prophetic books, we learn that those who were called to be prophets under the old covenant were appointed to bring the people of Israel special messages from God and to watch over the Israelites to ensure that they kept the terms of their covenant with the Lord.

Essentially, the Old Testament prophets were spokesmen for God. Todays passage reveals their task. God compares Moses, the model for all the old covenant prophets (Deut. 34:10), to Himself and appoints Aaron to be Moses prophet. In receiving words from MosesGodand speaking them to Pharaoh, Aaronthe prophetwas to call the king to repent, to recognize the one true Lord of all, and to free the Israelites from slavery (Ex. 7:12). All of the Old Testament prophets who followed would do the same, calling the covenant people to repent, serve God, and obey His holy Word.

EXODUS 7:17 The Lord said to Moses, See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet. You shall speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron shall tell Pharaoh to let the people of Israel go out of his land (vv. 12).

SPOKESMEN FOR GOD PROPHET S TO THE NATIONS

JEREMIAH 1:45 The word of the Lord came to me, saying, Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.

H aving established that the Old Testament prophets were spokesmen for God, we will now consider the peoples to whom they spoke. Understanding this important topic will help us better interpret the meaning of the prophets words and draw some important connections to the current ministry of Christs church.

Todays passage narrates Jeremiahs call, which we will consider in greater detail as it pertains to his ministry when we study that prophets book in a few months. For now, we want to highlight the importance of his call as a prophet to the nations (Jer. 1:5). Although he was sent primarily to the covenant people of Israel, Jeremiah was also appointed to deliver the oracles of the Lord to the Gentiles, to those who were not a part of Gods covenant with Israel through Moses.

To a greater or lesser degree, this was true of all the prophets of Israel. Some proph-ets had messages that focused more specifically on nations other than Israel, such as Obadiahs words for Edom and the ministry of Jonah and Nahum to Nineveh (Assyria). Other prophets, such as Haggai and Ezekiel, spoke primarily to the Israelites and less to the Gentile nations. But all of the prophets had words that could be applied both to Israel and to the other nations. What John Calvin said about Jeremiah could well be said about all the prophets of God: Though he was given as a Prophet especially to his own people, yet his authority extended to heathen nations.

That God would speak to the Gentiles during the old covenant era should not surprise us. Since He is the only true God, He is the Lord of all mankind, even of those who do not recognize His authority. The implications of this basic truth are profound. Certainly, we do not believe that the gift of prophecy continues in the church today. Still, the church of Jesus Christ is the heir of the prophets and their message; thus, although we do not receive new revelation like they did, we are still called to proclaim Gods message to the world. We fulfill this calling first by preaching the gospelthe oracle of salvationto the world (Matt. 24:14). But we also heed this dictate by calling the ruling authorities to account for their failure to uphold Gods moral order. We do not call the state to be the church and to administer Word and sacrament. Yet we canand mustcall the state to be the state and follow Gods revelation about the states responsibilities.

Ministering prophetically to the state is complex, and sometimes it can be difficult to know exactly how it should be done. However, we can be sure that the church cannot be silent when the state is in gross violation of the Lords standards of justice. We do not preach the Word of God only within the four walls of our church buildings but also to the world, including all officials who are called to protect life and property.

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Genesis 12:13 Isaiah 34

Zephaniah 3:910 Matthew 28:1820

THE BIBLE IN A YEAR


C ontinuing our look at the major concepts that we must grasp in order to understand the Old Testament prophets, we will now consider covenant conditionality. Historically, the prophets have been called covenant prosecutors because, as Gods spokesmen, they served as prosecuting attorneys in relation to Israels keeping of the covenant. They reminded the old covenant community of its covenant obligations and brought charges against Israel when it did not live up to the covenants conditions.

Perhaps more than any other biblical genre, the prophetic books remind us that we do not worship Aristotles Unmoved Mover. Instead, we have a dynamic relationship with the Lord. Our actions, as foreordained by Gods eternal decree, truly affect his-tory. We are not robots who have been programmed to act and left to run on autopilot. We are thinking and feeling creatures shaped in time by the Almightys powerful and sovereign Word (Isa. 55:1011). In turn, the Lord responds to our prayers and actions. Of course, everything is working out according to Gods ultimate designHe works all things according to the counsel of his will (Eph. 1:11). The Lord is the first cause who determines all that happens. In eternity past, He ordained our actions and His response. Yet we do not know the specifics of this plan, the fullness of His eternal decree. God holds us accountable only to act according to His revelation (Deut. 29:29).

This revelation includes covenant conditionality. All Gods covenants have conditions we must fulfill to receive covenant blessingseven the Abrahamic covenant, which is often considered to be wholly unconditional. Yes, there are unconditional aspects of this covenant. When the Lord swore by Himself to give Abraham land and seed, He commit-ted Himself to ensuring that His promise would be fulfilled (Gen. 15; Heb. 6:1320). He guaranteed that Abrahams line would bless the world. However, His oath did not ensure that every physical descendant of Abraham would participate in this blessing. As Genesis 17:12 explains, individual members of Abrahams line had to meet certain conditions to be true members of Gods family of blessing. Each child of Abraham had to walk before [Him] and be blameless. Each had to live coram Deobefore the face of Godtrusting Him in faith, obeying Him, and repenting when they sinned. Today, we must meet the same conditions of faith and repentance to experience new covenant blessings.

Though we must meet certain covenant conditions, salvation is ultimately all of grace because God elects only some to salvation, giving them the ability to trust Him, which is not ours by nature as Adams fallen children. Nevertheless, the elect of God prove their election when they repent and trust in Christ for salvation. If we dont have faith and repentance, we cannot presume that we are elect, and if we are elect, we will have faith and repentance (Acts 13:48).

COVENANT CONDITIONALIT Y

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Deuteronomy 32:3536Leviticus 26:4042

THE BIBLE IN A YEAR Genesis 911Matthew 4

THE WEEKEND Genesis 1217

Matthew 5

GENESIS 17:12 When Abram was ninety-nine years old the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless, that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly.


4FRI | JAN

3THU | JAN

FOR FURTHER STUDY

1 Kings 19:118 Isaiah 10:2023 John 6:6070 1 John 2:19

THE BIBLE IN A YEAR


Gods Word is delivered to all of the members of the visible covenant community. But the members of the invisible covenant community show themselves to be His elect people by taking the warnings about staying in faith seriously, repenting, and persevering in trusting God until the ends of their lives. If we do not take the words of the Lord seriously and soberly apply them to our lives, we reveal that we may be members only of the visible covenant community.

I f we were to ask the average, biblically literate person the identity of those to whom the prophets were sent, in most cases we would hear this answer: ancient Israel. Of course, that is correct, but it needs further clarification. When we say the old covenant prophets brought Gods message to Israel, we are actually talking about two different, sometimes-but-not-always overlapping groups of people.

Scripture uses the term Israel in two major ways. First, it can mean the nation made up of every physical descendant of Jacob. The people of Israel in Exodus 12:3342 refers to all of Jacobs progeny then living in Egyptregardless of whether they trusted Yahweh. This use of Israel applies to what theologians call the visible covenant com-munity. The qualifier visible reflects our ability to see, so the visible covenant com-munity under the old covenant consisted of everyone whom human beings could iden-tify as a citizen of Israel by outward markers such as family ties and circumcision.

Yet the Bible also uses the word Israel to refer to those who were Israelites inward-lyto all those who had saving faith in Yahweh during the old covenant era. Paul the Apostle uses the word Israel in this way in todays passage. This use of Israel corresponds to what theologians have historically termed the invisible covenant community. Again, the qualifier invisible applies to our sight. We cannot see the state of another persons heart, so we do not know in every instance that the one who professes saving faith actu-ally possesses it. What God sees, of course, is another matter. He always knows when a person who professes faith as a member of the visible covenant people also possesses faith as a member of the invisible covenant people.

When speaking to Israel, the Old Testament prophets delivered Gods Word to the visible covenant community. Thus, even when they declared that Israel had broken its covenant with God, they knew a remnant of Israel still trusted Him. This distinction also reveals that the prophetic promises that so often seem to refer unconditionally to all the physical descendants of Jacob cannot be read that way. The prophets spoke to the visible covenant community, so they had to preach in universal terms. However, their words always assumed that only true Israelites would inherit Gods promises. The ultimate covenant blessings were for only those who had saving faith in the Lord.

ROMANS 9:113 It is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring (vv. 67a).

GODS WORD TO HIS COVENANT PEOPLE

S ince Gods covenants with His people have conditions, there are consequences for keeping and for breaking the covenants. Because the Old Testament prophets lived during the old covenant era, the consequences they preached for breaking or keeping covenant are those laid out in the Mosaic law. As we saw yesterday, the blessings for covenant faithfulness included fruitfulness of womb and field, safety from ones enemies, and much more (Lev. 26:113). These blessings anticipated what life will be like in the new heaven and earth (Isa. 65:1725; Rev. 21:14), and the ancient Israelites enjoyed them when they trusted Yahweh. Authentic trust manifested itself in love for the Lord, a striving after obedience, repentance when Gods law was broken, and hope that the Creator would one day send the Messiah to keep covenant perfectly in their behalf.

Blessings were not the only consequences attached to the Mosaic covenant. Leviticus 26:1439 lists curses for breaking covenant (see also Deut. 28:1568), curses including disease, infertility, and defeat in war. Moreover, in this list of covenant curses, the curses grow in intensity the longer the people remain impenitent, faithless, and disobe-dient. We see that God would send certain curses on His unfaithful people to prompt the Israelites to listen to Him once more and then evaluate their response. If the Israelites would not heed Yahweh, a sevenfold punishment would follow. If, after that, the Israelites still would not listen to Him, another sevenfold punishment would follow. The curses would worsen as the people remained impenitent, culminating in the worst covenant curse of allexile, the banishment from Gods special place of blessing.

Note how the covenant curses prove the long-suffering patience of the Lord. Scripture teaches that God is slow to anger (Ex. 34:6; Num. 14:18; Jonah 4:2), not in that He ever tolerates wickedness but in His willingness to stay His hand. The Lord does not typi-cally pour out the fullness of His wrath all at once, but He sends trouble to warn His covenant people of their waywardness and call them to repent. While men and women draw breath, the Lord calls them to repent and turn to Him, promising to relent from disaster when the wicked forsake their ways (Joel 2:13). Still, He will not be patient forever, and those who presume upon His grace and never turn from their sin will likewise find themselves exiled from His blessingsfor all eternity (Matt. 25:3146).

Just as the Lord sent covenant curses on the old covenant church to call it to repentance, He will also allow His new covenant church to feel trouble as a means of disciplining us for our sin. We cannot equate every hardship that we face with the Lords hand of chastisement, but when God allows us to suffer the consequences of our sin, He is disciplining us and calling us to return to Him. May we always heed this call.

COVENANT CURSES

FOR FURTHER STUDY

2 Samuel 24 Psalm 145:8

Romans 2:111 2 Peter 3:9

THE BIBLE IN A YEAR


LEVITICUS 26:1439 If you will not listen to me . . . if you spurn my statutes, and if your soul abhors my rules, so that you will not do all my commandments, but break my covenant, then I will do this to you: I will visit you with panic, with wasting disease (vv. 1416a).


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G ods covenants clearly have conditions, as we have seen over the past few days. The question before us now, however, is what happens when these conditions are met and what happens when they are not met? The answer is that meeting the condi-tions perfectly leads to eternal life, and, in the final analysis, we can only do this by trusting in Christ Jesus alone, who alone has kept the covenant perfectly (2 Cor. 5:21).

Although meeting the covenant conditions leads ultimately to eternal lifevia the faith-alone imputation of the merit of Christ, the perfect covenant-keeperthere are also earthly blessings for keeping covenant that anticipate the life of the world to come. This is particularly evident under the Mosaic covenant, which was the foundational covenant for the prophets ministry. In fact, the blessings that the prophets announced to ancient Israel were the blessings promised to those who kept the Mosaic law. These blessings are revealed most clearly in Leviticus 26:113 and Deuteronomy 28:114.

The two lists differ slightly, but the teaching of both texts is the same. God promised the Israelites that if they were to keep the covenant, they would experience food harvests so great that they would be unable to gather everything in before it was time to sow the seed once more (Lev. 26:35). Faithful Israel would enjoy peace, victory over her enemies, and fruitfulness in the womb (vv. 610). The blessings build to the crescendo of the greatest covenant benefit of allthe presence of God Himself with His people (vv. 1113).

When the prophets announced blessings to Israelites who persevered in covenant obedience or returned to the Lord after grossly breaking His law, they promised the very blessings we have just listed. Jeremiah 23:14, for example, promises the faithful remnant of Israel that it will experience great fruitfulness. Ezekiel 36:2232 looks for-ward to the Spirit of God dwelling within the hearts of His children.

Ancient Israel was not to look at keeping Gods covenant as a means to earn their salvation. Thus, for the old covenant people, faithfulness did not mean perfect obedi-ence, which is impossible for sinners. They were to strive to obey, repent when they failed, and look for the Messiah to earn salvation for them by His following the law perfectly (Gen. 3:1415; Lev. 18:5; Deut. 18:15). But as they conformed, generally speaking, to Gods law, they enjoyed a foretaste of eternal life in the new heaven and earth.

The book of Job and other portions of Scripture warn us about making a strict one-to-one correlation between the blessings or trials we receive and our obedience to God. Nevertheless, we can expect the Lord to show His favor to us when we keep His covenant and seek to obey His Word. We do this not to earn our redemption but to thank Him for saving us from our sin. Are you striving to obey the Lord and receive His blessing?

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Deuteronomy 4:1 Isaiah 55

Matthew 19:2630 Romans 5:1221

THE BIBLE IN A YEAR


COVENANT BLESSINGS

LEVITICUS 26:113 If you walk in my statutes and observe my commandments and do them, then I will give you your rains in their season, and the land shall yield its increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit (vv. 34).

M oses prophesied the return of Israel from exile, laying the foundation for the prophets preaching of the hope of restoration to the people of God (Isa. 58; Zeph. 3:1420). If we were to read only the major restoration passages in the Mosaic law (Lev. 26:4045; Deut. 30:110), however, we would miss the fullness of what was predicted in relation to the return of the Jews from the exile. As we will see in the months ahead, the true return from exile involves many events, but today we will look briefly at two of them that are hinted at in Genesis 49:10.

Throughout church history, commentators have largely agreed that Genesis 49:10 teaches that the true king of Israel is from the tribe of Judah and that this king will receive the obedience of all the peoples. In the immediate context of this verse, it is not clear that this word would find its fulfillment in Israels return from exile. However, the later writing prophets make reference to the exaltation of Israels Judahite king over all the nations in conjunction with the return from exile. (Of course, David was the first king from Judahs line, but his sons were taken into exile along with the rest of the nation.) Amos 9:1115 is one of the key prophetic passages that combine the restoration from exile, the exaltation of the Judahite (and Davidic king), and the kings reign over all peoples, Jew and Gentile alike.

We do not know all the passages that Jesus interpreted for the two men on the road to Emmaus, but we are likely not making too much of a conjecture to assume that Amos 9:1115 was one of them. In any case, living on this side of the cross, we understand that Jesus is the One to whom the prophetic promises finally point. In Him, the elect of God find the true restoration from exile, the release from the bondage to sin into which all people were sent when they fell in Adam (Rom. 5:1221), and, finally, the return not only to blessings in Canaan but blessings in every land that will be a part of the new heaven and earth (Rev. 21:14). He is the Judahite and Davidic king, who, having been exiled from His Father on the cross, was raised to life for our justification, never to die again (Rom. 1:14; 4:2225; Heb. 7:2325). He is the One to whom the obedience of all nations is rendered, for despite its failures, the church of Jesus Christ has for more than two thousand years been making disciples of the Savior from every nation.

Although Jesus fulfills many individual prophecies of the old covenant, we also follow Him because He fulfills the broad hopes revealed in the Old Testament prophetic literature. He is the One who, by His death, resurrection, and return, brings about the return from exile not only of Israel but also the whole world. At His return, creation will be released from its exile into sin and darkness, and we will enjoy to the fullest extent the redemption Christ has purchased for us.

THE CHRIS T OF THE PROPHET S

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Luke 2:2238Acts 1:611

THE BIBLE IN A YEAR Genesis 2728

Matthew 9:1838

THE WEEKEND Genesis 2932Matthew 10

LUKE 24:1334 O . . . slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer . . . and enter into his glory? And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself (vv. 2527).


D uring the old covenant era, the prophets reminded Israel of the blessings tied to keeping the Mosaic covenant with the aim of persuading the people to remember God and turn to Him for salvation (Lev. 26:113; Jer. 23:14; Ezek. 36:2232). They similarly preached the curses of the Mosaic covenant (Lev. 26:1439), exhorting the people that they could not presume upon Gods grace and warning them of the suffering that would result from persistent impenitence. Elijah, for example, prophesied a great drought on northern Israel while Ahab was king (1 Kings 17:17). We read predictions of famine and death by sword for Israel in Jeremiah 11 because of the nations flagrant covenant violations. Jeremiah also foretold the exile of Israel into Babylon for seventy years, exile being the last, most terrible covenant curse (Lev. 26:2739; Jer. 25:114).

Exile was awful indeed, as it meant banishment from Gods place of blessing to a life as strangers in a strange land, people with no permanent home. As we know, the Israelites finally went into exile because the majority of the people refused to abandon their fla-grant, impenitent covenant violations (2 Kings 17:723; 25). Yet exile was never intend-ed to end the story of Gods people. Centuries before the Lord removed the children of Israel from Canaan for their thoroughgoing idolatry, Moses predicted that when the generations after him were sent into exile, God would not leave them there. Todays passage contains the promise of restoration from exile that gave the old covenant com-munity hope once it was sent to Babylon and Assyria (see also Deut. 30:110).

Moses told Israel that if the people were to repent while in exile, God would bring them back to their land (Lev. 26:4042). The Israelites would have to endure the con-sequences of their sin for a while, but the Lord would never abandon them totally. He would never forget His promises and oaths to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (vv. 4345).

In the promise of restoration, we see the interplay of covenant conditionality and covenant grace. The people would have to repent in order to come back to Canaan, but God Himself would not forget Israel and would guarantee that there would be at least some who would repent. By His electing grace, the Lord would always have a faithful remnant among the Israelites, a remnant for whose sake God would bring the people back to their land and send the Messiah (2 Kings 19:3031).

Gods grace to His people in the restoration is shown in two primary ways. First, He provides His Son to fulfill perfectly all the requirements needed for Him to restore all creation. Second, He elects a people to salvation, guaranteeing that they will repent and believe in Him, thereby ensuring that His promises will be kept. As the gospel goes forth and people repent and believe, God is restoring His creation and will consummate it in the new heaven and earth.

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Isaiah 58 Jeremiah 27

Zephaniah 3:1420 Luke 1:6780

THE BIBLE IN A YEAR

Genesis 2526 Matthew 9:117

THE HOPE OF RES TOR ATION

LEVITICUS 26:4045 Yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not spurn them, neither will I abhor them so as to destroy them utterly and break my covenant with them, for I am the Lord their God (v. 44).


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10THU | JAN


Within the first six months in my current congregation, I did two very challenging funerals. One was for a twenty-something girl, cut off as she looked forward to what her life was becoming. The other was for a ninety-something ruling elder who had lived a full life of service to others. While I have done a lot of funerals since then, the juxtaposition of these two has stuck with me.

Thats because these two funerals teach that man does not know his time (Eccl. 9:12) and t

Tabletalk 01 Jan 2013

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Transcript of Tabletalk 01 Jan 2013