The ESV Turns Five

The press release:

Wheaton, IL—Five years ago, on October 1, 2001, the English Standard Version (ESV) Bible was introduced to the world. Today, the ESV is available in more than one hundred formats, has seen nearly 3 million copies distributed worldwide, and is reaching the world in creative and strategic ways. ESV General Editor J. I. Packer recently stated, “I find myself suspecting very strongly that my work on the translation of the ESV Bible was the most important thing that I have done for the Kingdom, and that the product of our labors is perhaps the biggest milestone in Bible translation in the past fifty years or more.”

Through the innovative web presence and wide availability of the ESV text, Crossway is inviting readers to investigate God’s Word in formats that are specially suited to their needs. The ESV text is broadly available, with more than fifty electronic licenses issued. It is accessible through Logos, PC Study Bible, BibleWorks, Online Bible, E-Sword, Quick Verse, and many other Bible software programs. The ESV website currently receives more than 3.5 million unique searches of the ESV text per month and more than 30 million searches per year. Visit the main ESV Bible website or the ESV Bible blog site to learn more about the ESV media ministry.

Partnerships with ministries and with Bible societies worldwide have enabled Crossway Bibles to extend the ESV Bible ministry. The Reformation Study Bible (Ligonier Ministries) and the Scofield III Bible (Oxford Bibles) are both available with the ESV text, and the creation of the ESV Study Bible is currently underway. Similarly, through partnerships forged with the Bible Society in Britain and with Bible Societies in India, Kenya, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Zimbabwe, and many more countries, 300,000 ESV Bibles are being distributed. Likewise, a number of leading ministry organizations, such as Youth for Christ, Campus Crusade for Christ, Back to the Bible, and Pocket Testament League, have selected the ESV Bible for use in their outreach programs.

The ESV Bible has also been adopted by some of the most influential evangelical churches in America, including Moody Church in Chicago (IL), Tenth Presbyterian in Philadelphia (PA), Harvest Bible Chapel in Rolling Meadows (IL), Bethlehem Baptist in Minneapolis (MN), Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano (TX), James River Assembly in Ozark (MO), The Falls Church in Falls Church (VA), Park Cities Presbyterian in Dallas (TX), and College Church in Wheaton (IL).

“We are indeed grateful for the many partnerships and milestones that we have seen during these last five years,” Crossway president Dr. Lane Dennis noted. “This really isn’t something that we could have achieved through our own strength and our own limited resources. Clearly we have seen the Lord’s hand and His provision for the publication of the ESV from the very beginning, and we want to take great care to give Him all the glory.”

The English Standard Version (ESV) Bible is an essentially literal Bible translation that combines word-for-word precision and accuracy with literary excellence, beauty, and readability. Believing that every word of the Bible is inspired by God, the translators of the ESV sought to be transparent to the original text so that the reader could see the structure and meaning of the original as clearly as possible. For more information on the ESV Bible, visit www.esv.org.

Crossway Books & Bibles is an internationally recognized, not-for-profit publishing ministry founded in 1938. Crossway is the publisher of the ESV Bible, significant Christian books, and gospel literature. For more information on Crossway Books & Bibles, visit www.crossway.com.

Participatory Worship

By Wayne Shih

The phrase "participatory worship" seems to have a wide range of meaning. For some, participation means - or at least includes - engaging the five senses in worship. What others emphasize - and I believe rightly - is the involvement of believers with others in the worship gathering of the church.

Brian Anderson describes how his church does Participatory Church Meetings (HT: House Church Blog):

We began introducing more participation into our Sunday gatherings. I informed the congregation that anyone could participate by reading Scripture, praying during a lull in our praise singing, or starting a song that was on their heart. I brought the podium down from the platform to the lower level so that I could be closer to the people, thereby encouraging mutual interaction. We rearranged the chairs into concentric semi-circles so that we could look into one another's faces when speaking, instead of the back of someone's head. We bought a wireless microphone and began passing it around to those desiring to share what God had been doing in their lives or to encourage us by declaring what God had been teaching them from His Word. Sometimes these sessions included exhortations, admonitions, teachings, or the sharing of blessings or burdens. One woman revealed that she had recently been diagnosed with cancer. This allowed the whole church the opportunity to tangibly express their love and commitment by gathering around, laying hands on her, and praying. These changes felt a bit awkward at first. We had no previous model to guide us, and thus, felt a bit uncomfortable with them. Before long, however, many began contributing some very edifying insights and exhortations.

Also, Ryan Jones describes how his Reformed-Charismatic church provides for participation (in terms of the exercise of spiritual gifts):

We have a microphone setup in the front of the church service, it's slightly hidden but in front of where the elders/pastors sit. While we're worshipping someone may have a scripture or vision that came to mind during the week or that morning that they believe God is calling them to share with the congregation....

The elder/pastor overseeing the mic weighs the prophecy and determines if it is biblical and meets the criteria of upbuilding, encouraging, consoling or convicting, I'm sure more goes into than this as well. Also, not everyone who thinks they have something to share is given the go-ahead to share at the mic.

BTW, I believe that listening to a sermon is a highly participatory act of worship. Unfortunately, many people allow their minds to wander instead of being actively involved with the word of God as it is taught.

Selective Quotation-National Intelligence Estimate

By Gene Edward Veith

Democrats are making political hay with that leaked National Intelligence Estimate that the war in Iraq is breeding more terrorists. But the news reports hyping that point strangely fail to cite other material in that same document, which give those discouraging words their context . Consider these paragraphs:

We assess that the Iraq jihad is shaping a new generation of terrorist leaders and operatives; perceived jihadist success there would inspire more fighters to continue the struggle elsewhere.

· The Iraq conflict has become the "cause celebre" for jihadists, breeding a deep resentment of US involvement in the Muslim world and cultivating supporters for the global jihadist movement. Should jihadists leaving Iraq perceive themselves, and be perceived, to have failed, we judge fewer fighters will be inspired to carry on the fight.

My point here is to note how the mainstream media treated this document. The information in the first half of the sentence quoted above is hyped hysterically. The rest of the sentence, though, draws a completely different conclusion from how the MSM spun the story: If those jihadist SUCCEED, for example, by driving out the Americans, we will have even more of them.

Conversely, in the second paragraph here, the analysts give a sentence that Democrats are seizing on. But the next sentence concludes that if those jihadists FAIL in Iraq, we will have fewer of them.

The intelligence finding is a balanced account of the facts in all of their complexity. I don't know if I have ever seen a more blatant example of journalistic bias and dishonest reporting than this selective quotation.

Moralism-Reducing Scripture to Life Lessons

By Darryl Dash

In The Church in Transition, Tim Conder talks about some of the ways that we devalue Scripture and limit its voice. One of them is what he calls moralism.

Moralism reduces the Bible to moral lessons and imperatives, robbing Scripture of its narrative quality. So much of the Bible is the scandalous story of humans asserting their own agendas or trying to accomplish God’s agenda apart from God…they include few moral lessons that can be simply incorporated into our decision-making.

He offers this example, from one of the most clearly theocentric books in the Bible (a theocentric book that never explicitly mentions God):

The story of Esther offers a great example of the damage we can do to the Scriptures if we try to read them simply as a moral directive. During the Jewish nation’s captivity under the Persians, a beautiful Jewish woman named Esther is placed under King Xerxes’ harem and eventually becomes queen. Her status and favor with the king allows her not only to stave off a planned genocide of her people, but also to punish the people who plotted the destruction of Jews. This amazing story graphically portrays the sovereignty of God despite the greed and immorality of humanity.

But if we read it as a morality tale, we might draw the following lessons:

• Join a harem and things will go better for you and for those around you!
• If you are physically beautiful, you can rule the world. If not, better luck next time!
• Manipulation works - ask for favors the right way and you’ll get your way!
• When you finally get the upper hand, use it as an iron fist and take revenge on those who have threatened you.

He concludes, “Moralism dehumanizes the characters of the Bible, blindly canonizes many of them into sainthood, and directs our attention away from the only hero of the Scriptures - God.”

Window on the Past-The Didache

By Derek Thomas

Along with The Epistle of Barnabas, 1 & 2 Clement, The Shepherd of Hermas, The Epistles of Ignatius and Polycarp, Te Epistle of Diognetus, and The Martyrdom of Clement, Ignatius and Polycarp, The Didache comprises one of the documents of the “Apostolic Fathers” – documents written in the latter half of the first century by early church Fathers known (?) to have had contact with the apostles.

The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, or its subtitle, The Teaching of the Lord Through the Twelve Apostles (neither of which are thought to be original) is known today simply as The Didache (“The Teaching”). A document about a third of the length of Mark’s Gospel, The Didache represents the preserved oral tradition of the mid-first century church based in either Antioch in Syria or Alexandria in Egypt (scholars have argued for both). The work was known (and cited) by the second century Alexandrians, Clement and Origen, leading some to argue for an Egyptian origin.

Dating the document has fallen foul of redaction critics in much the same way as have the canonical texts – thus, older scholarship argued for a mid-second century date, largely based on a perceived “borrowing” from either Matthew or Luke, both of which were thought to be late first century texts. The similarity of some of its contents to “The Sermon on the Mount” (Matthew 5-7)and the “Olivet Discourse” (Matthew 24-25) has led some to argue a dependence of the former on the latter. As noted above, scholars have argued that the Gospels’ portrayal of the Fall of Jerusalem is “too accurate” and have therefore suggested origins dating in the late eighth or ninth decades of the first century. The dependence of The Didache on the Gospel would mean a second century composition.

More recent scholarship has argued for a much earlier origin, possibly as early as the mid 50s of the first century. This has involved not so much a re-dating of the canonical Gospels as such, but on a view that has divorced The Didache from them entirely arguing instead for an oral tradition independent of the Gospel texts. The Didache thus represents the understanding of the church on some essential practical matters, including baptism and the Lord’s Supper, at a period when Paul was engaging in his Gentile mission but seemingly wholly independent of it. The fact that Ignatius (in Antioch) was known to be gathering Paul’s letters is yet another argument in favor of the Egyptian origin of The Didache.

The story of the “discovery” of the complete text rivals the finding of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Nag Hammadi Library in the early twentieth century. When the fourteenth and fifteenth century Renaissance failed to unearth a single copy of The Didache, scholars grew pessimistic, even skeptical of its authenticity. However, in 1873, a single copy written by the hand of “Leon, the scribe and sinner,” dated 1056, including the customary tachygraphic signs and abbreviations of Latin and Greek copyists, was discovered by Archbishop Philotheos Bryennios in the library of the Greek Convent of the Holy Sepulchre in Istanbul (Constantinople). Some problems encouraged skepticism by the literati: that professional catalogers had already systematically combed through the library and failed to unearth the document; and Constantinople seemed a convenient place to find it. Ten years of fierce debate ended with the first English publication in New York on March 20, 1884. Five thousand copies were sold on the first day alone. Detractors maintained the charge of a “modern forgery” but it is now almost entirely recognized as a genuine text.

A recent translation has been done by Aaron Milavec – The Didache: Text, Translation, and Commentary [Collegeville, Minnesota: Liturgical Press, 2004]. Milavec is also the author of a much larger, one thousand-paged analysis of The Didache – The Didache: Faith, Hope, and Life of the Earliest Christian Community 50-70 ad (New York, Paulist Press, 2003).

The text of The Didache contains 2,190 words: 552 different words of which 504 are to be found in the New Testament, 497 are Classical Greek, 15 are words which occur only in later documents, and one word (prosexomologein) which occurs only in The Didache. On the whole, the vocabulary is typical of Koiné Greek of the mid-first century and, according to Philip Schaff, its “style is simple, natural, terse, sententious and popular.” Despite this, critics have noted the staccato-like structure of The Didache, displaying little by way of explanation or transition from one section (theme) to another. It has all the marks of a “cut and paste” document, and some have argued for multiple sources. Again, recent scholarship has argued that the document reflects its oral tradition (the use of the words, “speaking” and “said”), and we are to imagine the document being delivered verbally (by rote) by an instructor to a (neophyte) catechumen in preparation for baptism and reception into the community of the faithful.

Summary of Contents

T. F. Torrance argues that a decline in the understanding of grace takes place in the writings of the Apostolic Fathers from that which is evidenced in the apostolic writings themselves (“The doctrine of Grace in the Apostolic Fathers” [1948]), but others have countered that, in the case of The Didache, this is to misunderstand the nature of the document as a piece of pastoral advice addressing specific issues rather than a theological treatment of the nature of saving faith (Aaron Milavec, Te Didache: Text, Translation, and Commentary [2004]).

The document itself contains five discernible parts, though there is no chapter or section division in the document itself. Issues and themes move from one to another with a breathtaking abruptness. These sections are:

1) A Training Program in “The Way of Life” (1:1 – 6:2) [44%]

2) Regulations regarding eating, baptizing, fasting, and praying (6:3 – 11:2) [22%]

3) Regulations regarding hospitality and the testing of various classes of visitors (especially “prophets” – itinerant preachers dependent on the kindness of the church for their well-being and among whom might well be hucksters and charlatans (11:3 – 13:2) [10%]

4) Regulations regarding offerings: firstfruits and “sacrfices” (13:3 – 15:4) [10%]

5) Closing Apocalyptic section of warning and hope (16:1 – 8) [9%]

Briefly, one should note the following:

Firstly, the document opens as does the Psalter, with a pronounced statement indicating two possible “Ways” – a way of life and a way of death. The former receives a lengthy exposition and outbalances the latter’s exposition fourfold. The Didache has all the markings of a Manual of Instruction setting out the main principles that any follower of Jesus Christ ought to know in order to grow and mature in a hostile world.

Secondly, much is made of the “Golden Rule” based as this is upon the Shema of Israel (Deut. 6:4-5) recited twice-daily by faithful Jews. Elaborating on the casuistry of loving our neighbor, The Didache encourages the believer to speak well of “those who speak badly of you,” and to love them (1:3), to turn the other cheek and offer one’s cloak and tunic to one in need (1:4). It encourages the sharing of resources with the community but on carefully judged basis – voluntarily reminiscent of the spirit shown in the voluntary sharing of goods in the early chapters of Acts, not forced as in the Essene communities.

Thirdly, of considerable interest is the so-called “Gentile Decalogue” (2:2), omitting the second, fourth and fifth commandment and inserting in its place commandments forbidding pedophilia, illicit sex, magic, the making of potions (pharmakeuein) and abortion.

Fourthly, in sententious manner, The Didache spells out required behavior in what is clearly Roman society, urging five marks of The Way by negation: “You will not be covetous, greedy, a hypocrite, bad-mannered or arrogant” (2:6). Similarly, five illustrations of how being faithful in little things can prevent major infractions of what God expects lead to warnings about anger (3:2), lust (3:3), necromancy (3:4), falsehood (3:5) and grumbling (3:6). The whole of life is to be viewed with an eye to God’s providence: “You will accept the experiences befalling you as good things, knowing that apart from God, nothing happens” (3:10). A clear testimony, then, to divine sovereignty!

Fifthly, disagreement was as much a feature of the early church as it is our own and therefore a lengthy section deals with the need for reconciliation.

Sixthly, prohibition of eating food offered to idols (6:1-3) leads to a section on baptism (7:1-3). It is assumed that the candidate is of discerning age and the document has been by way of preparation for this act of initiation into the community. Three features have given credo-baptists cause for joy: no mention is made of the baptism of children (infants); the document shows a preference for what it calls “flowing water” if this is possible; and at least one translator of the Greek text employs the word “immerse” (Milavec at 7:2 [twice], even though the Greek is baptizein. At 7:1 where the Greek baptizate is used, Milavec renders it in the English simply as “baptize”). Since the document is meant specifically as a training manual of neophytes, the argument over infants is redundant.

Seventhly, the Lord’s Supper receives a lengthy treatment (9:1 – 10:6). Paedo-communion devotees will find no support here. The entire ritual assumes the ability to discern. The theology of the supper lacks the insights of the tradition of 1 Corinthians 11 in relation to the “bread word” (“This is my body…”) or the corresponding liturgical rubric relating the cup to “the blood of the covenant” (1 Cor. 11: 25). Instead the loaf is a symbol of scattered grain brought together in one loaf and the cup reflective of Jesus but in an altogether unspecified way. Another section (14:1-3) which mentions the “eucharist” is separated by a lengthy section warning of false prophets who prey on naïve and unsuspecting converts is a cause for some puzzlement. Some (e.g. Henri Leclerq and Gregory Dix) have suggested that the initial reference is to the agape meal and the latter to the eucharist proper, but this has not gained much support. All in all, The Didache does not represent a profound theology of the Lord’s Supper, nor is there any instruction as to its frequency.

Finally, The Didache closes with a sustained apocalyptic section warning that the end is near and preparation for the life to come urgent (16;1-8). Three features stand out: God’s time is “not yet”; believers are to ensure they do not forsake gathering together for instruction in the way of godliness and worship; and, they are to be on their guard for false prophets. The Didache closes with three signs of the end: an “unfurling … in heaven” followed by the sound of trumpets and the resurrection of the dead. Then, “the world will see the Lord coming atop the clouds of heaven” (16;8).

Bibliography:

Paul Bradshaw, The Search for the Origins of Christian Worship: Sources and Methods for the Study of Early Liturgy (NY, Oxford: OUP, 1992).

J. A Draper “The Jesus Tradition in the Didache” in Gospel Perspectives ed. D. Wenham (Sheffield: JSOT, 1985), 269-87.

Larry Hurtado, At The Origins of Christian Worship: The Context and Character of earliest Christian Devotion (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1999).

R. A. Kraft, Barnabas and the Didache (AF 3: New York: Nelson, 1965)

Aaron Milavec, The Didache: Text, Translation, Analysis, and Commentary (Collegville, Minnesota: Liturgical Press, 2004)

______ The Didache: Faith, Hope and Life of the Earliest Christian Community, 50-70 ad (NY: Paulist Press, 2003)

Footnotes

Church Membership and the NCLHGA

By Mike McKinley

What a Biblical Understanding of Church Membership and the NCLHGA Have in Common

In our previous article, we traced the theme of inclusion and exclusion throughout redemptive history. From the Garden of Eden to the New Jerusalem, God promises to create a people for himself. This new people should be distinct from the rest of the world, both in their confession and in their conduct. Ultimately, we concluded that church membership was consistent with how God has worked through redemption history.

Now it remains to be seen whether the contemporary practice of church membership accurately reflects the New Testament pattern for the life of the church. By church membership, I mean the formal agreement between an individual and a congregation to be committed to one another in life and discipline.

If we conclude that church membership is consistent with the Bible’s commands for the church, we are obligated to pursue it in our churches. To that end, we will consider two main questions in this article: First, was church membership practiced by the apostles and the New Testament church? Second, is church membership required by the commands of Scripture?

WAS CHURCH MEMBERSHIP PRACTICED IN THE NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH?

Was church membership practiced by churches in the New Testament? Scripture gives us indications that the answer to this question is "yes." While none of these examples are overwhelming on their own, taken as a whole they form a substantial argument. Let’s look at three.

1. Those Reluctant "to Join" the Church

In Acts 5:12-13 we are told,

Now many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people by the hands of the apostles. And they were all together in Solomon's Portico. None of the rest dared join them, but the people held them in high esteem.

In the wake of the deaths of Ananias and Sapphira, fear gripped both believers in the church and the non-believers who heard of the events. The trepidation was such that many did not dare "to join" the church [1], presumably for fear that they would suffer a similar fate.

What does the word translated "join" in the English Standard Version mean? The Greek word is kollaô, the semantic range of which includes "to bind closely," "to join together," and "unite." This same word occurs in 1 Corinthians 6:17 to refer to the union that occurs between a believer and Christ. At the very least, the use of the word "join" in Acts 5:13 refers to more than casually showing up, as you or I might speak of "joining the dinner party for dessert." It indicates some sort of formal connection, more like joining a club.

2. The List of Widows

In 1 Timothy 5:9-12, Paul gives Timothy a set of instructions for enrolling widows on the list of those receiving support from the church. He writes:

Let a widow be enrolled if she is not less than sixty years of age, having been the wife of one husband, and having a reputation for good works…But refuse to enroll younger widows…

The verb translated "enroll" (katalageô) can be either specific ("to put on a list") or general ("to consider as part of a certain group"). The former meaning would make the point more marked in that the church was clearly keeping an accessible list of widowed members. Yet even the latter meaning would mean that the church was distinguishing between people in a way consistent with the practice of church membership.

Why mention the widow’s list? It’s difficult to imagine the church keeping a list of widows but not keeping a list of members. If it didn’t keep the latter list, what group of widows would even be consider for inclusion on the former list? Any widow in the entire city of Ephesus? The widow who showed up three times four years ago? Of course not. The church would have some specified pool that it was drawing from.

3. The Punishment of the Majority

In 2 Corinthians 2:6, Paul refers to the discipline the church inflicted on an individual as the "punishment by the majority." While we will think of church discipline more in just a moment, it’s worth observing for now that the existence of a "majority" means that there was a defined set of people from which the majority is constituted. There cannot be a majority of an unspecified group; it must be a majority of something.

Was it the majority of people who happened to be present the day the vote was cast? Could non-Christians then vote? Could any Christians who happened to be visiting from another city who didn’t know the situation vote? The most natural assumption to make is that Paul meant the majority of an acknowledged membership of the church.

Among other pieces of evidence, these three examples suggest that participation in the life of the church body wasn’t casual or easily dissolved. It was a relationship that one entered into (joined) and that came with responsibilities (determining punishment) and privileges (support for the widows). It is hard to imagine how this was accomplished without a clear sense of the membership of the church.

IS CHURCH MEMBERSHIP REQUIRED BY SCRIPTURE?

The Westminster Confession of Faith states that "The whole counsel of God, concerning all things necessary for his own glory, man's salvation, faith, and life, is either expressly set down in scripture, or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from scripture." [2] Since scripture does not expressly set down the practice of church membership (in the contemporary sense), we are left to investigate whether the Bible assumes church membership in any of its commands. Is it a "good and necessary" deduction from the biblical evidence? Again, let’s look at three examples:

1. Church Discipline

In 1 Corinthians 5, Paul instructs the church on how to deal with a man living in open and scandalous sin. For the sinner’s good and for the health of the church, the congregation is told to exercise church discipline against the man by "delivering the man to Satan".

In verse 2, he tells them that rather than letting the man remain among them, they should "Let him who has done this be removed from among you."

There are a few things for us to notice from this passage:

First, this punishment is described in verse 2 as removing this man "from among you." The result of the church discipline is the removal of the sinner from the congregation. This necessarily implies the presence of a formal membership. How else could someone be removed if they did not belong in a formal sense in the first place?

I cannot be removed from the Northern California Left Handed Golfer’s Association because I have never been a member of such an organization. Now according to their website, the NCLHGA will remove people from membership for several reasons (like right-handedness, perhaps?). But I am in no danger of being subject to such an action, because you can’t kick a person out who was never a member to begin with.

Second, the church’s discipline is to occur when "you are assembled together" (vs. 4). For our purposes, simply note that there was a definite and formal assembly of the church, and they knew who to expect when it gathered.

Third, Paul means for the church to discipline only those "inside" the church (vs. 12). Obviously, the church knew who was an insider and who was an outsider. Proper church discipline is impossible without defined church membership.

2. Accountability to Leaders

The New Testament warns church leaders to discharge their responsibility for oversight diligently. In Acts 20:28, Paul instructs the Ephesian elders to "Take heed to yourselves, and to all the flock." In Hebrews 13:17, the church is told to respect elders since "they watch over your souls, as those who must give account."

Who constitutes the flock over which the elders watch? For whom must the leaders of the church give account? The citizens of their city? Anyone who ever attends their church? Of course not. They must be accountable for the members of the church, those whom everyone recognizes have been committed to their care. Church leaders cannot function properly without church membership.

3. Metaphors for the Church

The New Testament makes use of several metaphors to describe the local congregation. We’ve seen in Acts 20:28 that the church is referred to as a flock. In 1 Corinthians 12:12, it is compared to a body. In 1 Peter 2:5, the church is pictured as a building.

In each of these metaphors, there is an obvious relationship between the individual and the congregation as a whole. The individual Christian is a member of the body and a sheep in the flock. The individual believer is, in Peter’s words, "a living stone" in the spiritual house.

Each of these word pictures, so vital to our understanding of the church, demand more than a casual commitment from the individual. There are no informally connected stones in a building. They are cemented together unambiguously. Sheep do not hop from flock to flock; rather, the shepherd knows exactly how many sheep he has in his care. Body parts do not relate to each other informally; they are intricately connected to each other and are mutually dependent. Surely, we best reflect these metaphors when we formally tie ourselves to a local congregation.

CONCLUSION

Church membership is a thoroughly biblical concept. There is strong circumstantial evidence that it was practiced in some form by the New Testament church. More compellingly, the Bible prescribes a certain organization and inter-relation within the church that is inconceivable without formal church membership.

In our next article, we will consider the relationship between church membership and the ordinances.

Footnotes:

1.It is grammatically possible that the “them” of verse 13 refers not to the church but rather to the Apostles. The context of these verses, however, demands that we understand Luke to be referring to the church.
2. Westminster Confession of Faith, I.iv

Mike McKinley is the lead writer on church membership for 9Marks, and the pastor of Guilford Baptist Church in Sterling, VA.

October 2006
Mike McKinley

©9Marks

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Wrongly Dividing the Word: The Lordship of Christ

By John MacArthur

Let’s look a little more closely at the dispensationalist tendency to make unwarranted contrasts between related or parallel truths (see yesterday’s post for the background on this). It is important that we delineate carefully between essentially different biblical axioms (2 Tim. 2:15). But it is also possible to go overboard. The unbridled zeal of some dispensationalists for making dichotomies has led to a number of unfortunate impositions on the gospel.

For example, Jesus is both Savior and Lord (Luke 2:11), and no true believer would ever dispute that. “Savior” and “Lord” are separate offices, but we must be careful not to partition them in such a way that we divide Christ (cf. 1 Cor. 1:13). Nevertheless, loud voices from the dispensationalist camp have historically put forth the teaching that it is possible to reject Christ as Lord yet receive Him as Savior.

Indeed, there are those who would have us believe that the norm for salvation is to accept Jesus as Savior without submitting to Him as Lord. They make the incredible claim that any other teaching amounts to a false gospel “because it subtly adds works to the clear and simple condition set forth in the Word of God.”[1] They have tagged the view they oppose “lordship salvation.”

Lordship salvation, defined by one who labels it heresy, is “the view that for salvation a person must trust Jesus Christ as his Savior from sin and must also commit himself to Christ as Lord of his life, submitting to his sovereign authority.”[2] It is astonishing that anyone would characterize that truth as unbiblical or heretical, but a chorus of voices still continues to echo the charge. The implication is that acknowledging Christ’s lordship is a human work. That mistaken notion is backed by volumes of literature that speaks of people “making Jesus Christ Lord of their lives.”[3]

We do not “make” Christ Lord; He is Lord! Those who will not receive Him as Lord are guilty of rejecting Him. “Faith” that rejects His sovereign authority is really unbelief. Conversely, acknowledging His lordship is no more a human work than repentance (cf. 2 Tim. 2:25) or faith itself (cf. Eph. 2:8–9). In fact, surrender to Christ is an important aspect of divinely produced saving faith, not something added to faith.

The two clearest statements on the way of salvation in all of Scripture both emphasize Jesus’ lordship: “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you shall be saved” (Acts 16:31); and “If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved” (Rom. 10:9).[4] Peter’s sermon at Pentecost concluded with this declaration: “Let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ—this Jesus whom you crucified” (Acts 2:36, emphasis added). No promise of salvation is ever extended to those who refuse to accede to Christ’s lordship. Thus there is no salvation except “lordship” salvation.[5]

Opponents of lordship salvation have gone to great lengths to make the claim that “Lord” in those verses does not mean “Master” but is a reference to his deity.[6] Even if that contention is granted, it simply affirms that those who come to Christ for salvation must acknowledge that He is God. The implications of that are even more demanding than if “Lord” only meant “Master”!

The fact is, “Lord” does mean “God” in all those verses. More precisely, it means “God who rules,”[7] and that only bolsters the arguments for lordship salvation. No one who comes for salvation with genuine faith, sincerely believing that Jesus is the eternal, almighty, sovereign God, will willfully reject His authority. True faith is not lip service. Our Lord himself pronounced condemnation on those who worshiped Him with their lips but not with their lives (Matt. 15:7–9). He does not become anyone’s Savior until that person receives Him for who He is—Lord of all (Acts 10:36).

A. W. Tozer said:

The Lord will not save those whom He cannot command. He will not divide His offices. You cannot believe on a half-Christ. We take Him for what He is—the anointed Saviour and Lord who is King of kings and Lord of all lords! He would not be Who He is if He saved us and called us and chose us without the understanding that He can also guide and control our lives.[8]

_______

NOTES:

[1] Livingston Blauvelt, Jr., “Does the Bible Teach Lordship Salvation?” Bibliotheca Sacra (January–March 1986), 37.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Ibid., 38.

[4] Some dispensationalists would confine the application of Romans 10:9–10 to unbelieving Jews. It is true that Romans 9–11 deals with the question of Israel’s rejection of the Messiah and the nation’s place in God’s eternal plan. But the soteriological significance of those verses cannot be limited to Israel alone, because of verses 12–13: “There is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call upon Him; for whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved.”

[5] I do not like the term “lordship salvation.” It was coined by those who want to eliminate the idea of submission to Christ from the call to saving faith, and it implies that Jesus’ lordship is a false addition to the gospel. As we shall see, however, “lordship salvation” is simply biblical and historic evangelical soteriology. I am using the term here (and have done so through the years) only for the sake of argument.

[6] Ibid., 38–41. See also G. Michael Cocoris, Lordship Salvation—Is It Biblical? (Dallas: Redención Viva, 1983), 13–15.

[7] Proper understanding of any biblical term depends on etymology, context, and history. Etymologically, kurios comes from a Greek root that means “rule, dominion, or power.” Contextually, taking Peter’s use of kurios in Acts 2:36, it is important to note that verses 34–35 quote from Psalm 110, a messianic Psalm of rule and dominion (“Rule in the midst of Thine enemies,” Ps. 110:2). Peter was not saying merely that “God has made Him … God”; he was affirming Jesus’ right to rule. Historically, Peter’s sermon addressed the Jews’ role in crucifying their Messiah (v. 23). At the trial of Jesus before Pilate and the Jewish mob, the issue was clearly his kingship, mentioned at least a dozen times in John 18:33–19:22. Clearly, careful historical-grammatical exegesis of Acts 2:36 can lead to only one conclusion: Jesus is the divine King who rules in the midst of both friends and foes. Having thus identified Christ as Lord of all, Peter makes his gospel appeal. Note carefully that Paul preached Jesus in exactly the same way (2 Cor. 4:3–5): Jesus is our sovereign Lord, and we are His servants.

[8] A. W. Tozer, I Call It Heresy! (Harrisburg, Pa.: Christian Publications, 1974), 18–19.

Carson on the Evangelistic Strategy of Acts 17

The following is from an article by Don Carson on the evangelistic methodology of the apostle Paul as seen in his Acts 17 address:

Paul confronted a society as different in worldview to the Judeo Christian worldview as is our current society. For a start, it was a pluralistic society with many gods. It was also extraordinarily pluralistic in its wealth of worldviews (the so called 'philosophies' of groups such as the Stoics and Epicureans).

For our purposes, the important thing to note is the framework Paul establishes in the Areopagus address. He takes a big picture approach. He presents the Judeo Christian worldview and confronts their diverse Athenian worldviews, before introducing Jesus.

We can read Paul's address in Acts 17 in about two minutes. However, addresses in the Areopagus could go on for hours. This suggests that every clause in Paul's address is a point that was expounded upon at length. If we want to know what Paul would have said on a particular point, in virtually every case Paul has some treatment of that point elsewhere in his New Testament writings.

He starts by saying,

"I see that in every way you are very religious."

Paul here is neither commending nor denying their religious practices. Rather he is noting their interest in spiritual things.

He goes on to say,

"I even found an altar with this inscription: 'To an Unknown God."

In Athenian culture there were so many gods with so many domains that, in an effort to ensure they did not miss one and suffer the consequences, they had an altar to an unknown god.

Paul perceives a deeper ignorance in their worship of an 'unknown god':

"What you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you."

Paul claims that God is knowable. He is being polite, but a challenge has been cast down.

He then goes on to establish that God

"made the world and everything in it."

God, Paul says, is transcendent. Being distinct from the universe, he is not a pantheistic being. Paul is providing a doctrine of creation, thus ruling out the idea that gods make other gods who make other gods until we finally get down to a god who is willing to soil his hands by making something material. Paul is saying that we have one God who made everything.

He then says that God

"is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands."

God cannot be domesticated by religion. Paul is not denying that God disclosed himself in special ways in the Old Testament temple. What he is saying is that at the end of the day you cannot domesticate God by properly performing sacrifices and religious rites so as to squeeze blessings out of him.

God

"is not served by human hands as if he needed anything."

God is self-existent - not only in terms of his origins but in terms of his independence. He does not need us at all. Rather it is we who are completely and utterly dependent on God, right down to our very breathing -

"he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else."

This is quite a reversal of the first century pagan perspective, and of many contemporary popular perceptions of God.

He then says,

"From one man he created every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth"

- thus highlighting the fact that all people have the same ancestor. Many of the ancients thought that different races had different origins.

Paul then hints that something is wrong:

"God did this so that men should seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us."

This says that there is a need to seek God, but suggests that the human race is alienated from him. It also establishes that however transcendent God is, he is also immanent - he is everywhere, inescapable, and always near us.

Paul has now established an entire framework, and challenged the Athenian worldview at many points, before moving on to sin. He now deals with sin in a fundamental way. He also confronts the dominant Greek view of history - that history is cyclical. The biblical revelation speaks of history as having a beginning, then a period of time during which God does certain things, and then a finally an end. Paul says that

"In the past God overlooked such ignorance,"

but that

"now he commands all people everywhere to repent"

because

"he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed."

Paul at the Areopagus in Athens has established an entire frame of reference before he gets to Jesus. He has challenged the Greek worldview with his JudeoChristian worldview. If he had presented clichés like 'Jesus died for your sins' before he had established the appropriate frame of reference, people would necessarily have misunderstood what he was saying.

We too, today, in our biblically illiterate society need to establish this biblical framework. This might take five minutes, five hours or five years, but at some stage we have to do it.

The Gospel According to Galatians

By C.R. Biggs

Gospel 101
What's so important about the gospel?!

What's so important about the gospel is what is so 'amazing' about the gospel!!

As we begin today’s study, let us summarize the Apostle Paul’s gospel and the “other gospel” of the Judaizers:

Simple Gospel of the Apostle Paul: (1) “Believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ, (2) at that moment you are saved-delivered-rescued from sin and God’s wrath; (3) now you live obediently according to God’s Law because the Spirit has written it in your hearts” (Eph. 2:8-10: Because of God’s mercy, we are saved by grace, created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared beforehand for us to walk in).

Paul writes in Ephesians 2:4-10:
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ- by grace you have been saved- 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Christ plus nothing equals salvation-deliverance and the fruitful obedience of faith because of our life-giving union with Jesus..

The Judaizers’ “Other Gospel”: (1) “Believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ, and (2) keep the Law of God the best you can; and then (3) you are saved.” (Contrast from Machen, ‘Notes on Galatians’, pg. 49).

Christ plus cooperation with God equals salvation-deliverance…

In today’s study we want to consider further the Apostle Paul’s gospel that was being exchanged for “another gospel which is no gospel at all?” Our ‘Word of Encouragement’ will focus on unpacking the sweet and amazing gospel of Jesus Christ, and how Paul summarizes it in Galatians 1:1-5, and how he responds when the Churches of Galatia begin to turn from the true gospel to a false one!

Galatians 1:1-10
Paul, an apostle- not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead- 2 and all the brothers who are with me, To the churches of Galatia: 3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5 to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen. 6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel- 7 not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. 10 For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.

In Galatians 1:6, Paul says that the Galatian churches have “amazed,” “astounded,” or “caused him to marvel” at just how quickly they had turned away from the true gospel of grace that he had preached to them and how quickly they have exchanged it for a false gospel!

We are all guilty of “quickly” turning away from the true gospel. Sin has tainted us in our hearts, minds, and wills in such a way that we want to work our way up to God, rather than having him send us (from God to man) a Savior to deliver us from our sins, and to rescue us from our awful plight.

Here is a summary of Paul’s gospel from Galatians 1:3-4:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father…

The Apostle Paul summarizes his gospel at the beginning of his letter by saying that Jesus “gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age.” Paul is saying that according to the eternal will of God, God sent his son to deliver us, or rescue us from a world of sin and misery by giving Jesus “for our sins”. Jesus was offered “for our sins” as a substitute for those whom he loved so that we could live as sons and heirs of God in Christ Jesus (Gal. 4:1-6). The hope of every Christian should be that Jesus gave himself willingly, because of his great love for us, “for our sins.”

As the Apostle Paul says it differently in Romans 5:8:
“…God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

The Sin Problem, or Rather “Our Sin Problem”
In order to consider properly the Gospel of Christ preached and proclaimed by Paul, we must first understand the sin problem of mankind. If we do not have a healthy and biblical understanding of sin, then we will never understand the true Biblical gospel of grace in Christ Jesus. In fact, if we have a low view of sin, we will necessarily have a low view of grace (“cheap grace” as Dietrich Bonhoeffer called it!). To put it another way, if we have yet to consider our great problem we are in due to sin, we will not be amazed at the mercy and grace of God revealed in the solution which is our rescue and deliverance in Jesus!

If we do not understand the depths of our sin as well as the comprehensiveness of sins effect on mankind, we will not understand truly why we need God’s grace at all!

So what is our sin problem? The Bible says that sin is exhaustive and comprehensive in all human beings. Sin has tainted all of our faculties as image-bearing creatures in our hearts, minds, and will. In other words, sin has tainted what we love as well as how we love, the way we think, the way we decide to do what we do, and even the way we understand sin as sin! When the great film director Woody Allen was caught in a heinous sin with a member of his own family, the press asked him why he did it. He answered: “The heart wants what the heart wants.” That’s pretty good theology for a director, and that is getting at our problem better than some Christians do today! The heart has been affected by sin and it desires whatever it selfishly desires regardless of what God thinks about it, or how much damage it might bring to others in this world.

We must understand that sin deceives us into thinking that we are better than we truly are in God’s sight. Sin tells us that we are more important than others (including God), and grows into a deep and self-centered, godless, selfishness that manifests itself in more gross and heinous sins as it complicates and reproduces itself within us.

As Paul says in Romans 1:29-32:
“[Those who exchange the truth of God for a lie] were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Though they know God's decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

Sin is not only exhaustive and comprehensive, but it is against God’s will revealed in the Law. Sin is illegal, or truly ‘against the law’ in God’s world and worthy only of God’s holy and righteous punishment and wrath. As Paul says in Romans 6:23: “The wages of sin is death.” The Law is good, and holy and righteous (Romans 7:7ff), but all sinful human beings are condemned by it because we cannot truly live perfectly by the Law.

We all deserve the eternal death for our sins, and the recognition of this causes the whole world to be silenced before God’s throne (Rom. 3:20).

Because of the real problem of sin that is exhaustive and comprehensive in us, and the fact that it is illegal in God’s world, there are only two ways to be saved from our awful predicament and plight: (1) We can keep the Law perfectly (and we cannot do this, even though many on the broad road that leads to destruction are giving it their best!), or (2) Trust in Christ who was our Law-Keeper on our behalf and who took the curse of the Law upon himself (the narrow way that leads to life)! This is why the gospel is truly “good news” for undeserving sinners! Although the Law of God (revealed summarily in the Ten Commandments) is good, holy and righteous, nonetheless it is “bad news” for sinners who cannot keep it! For a sinner then, Law is bad news (especially since we are to be perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect, Matt. 5:48), and the gospel of Jesus is “good news”.

When we attempt to trust in Christ and then add something to his work for us, we are becoming in essence like the Judaizers. The Apostle Paul knows the Law is holy, righteous and good (Romans 7:7-12), yet he says he died to it as a way of earning salvation. In fact, he died to the law just so he could live to God, that is be alive to God’s righteousness, and not his own dead works.

Galatians 2:19 For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God

“I Am A Good Person!”
Now some may be thinking more highly of themselves than they ought. Perhaps you are thinking: “Well, I am not that bad, and I try really hard to keep the 10 commandments, to love God with all my heart, soul, mind and strength, and my neighbor as myself. I am not like others who are murderers and rapists. I am a pretty good person and I have tried my darnedest to live a good life.” Perhaps sin has deceived you in such a way that you don’t even think of yourself as a sinner. But may I remind you that God demands perfection to his holy law?!

Now before you run off and try to be perfect, I must remind you that even if you were to live it externally and outwardly perfect from this day forth, what are you going to do about the actual guilt and sin problem within you (even if you can fool us all outwardly with your behavior, you cannot fool God because all hearts, thoughts, and motivations are clearly seen by Him to whom we must one day give an account. Listen to this:

Hebrews 4:12-13: For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 13 And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

“Naked and exposed” before God’s eyes, not only our outward behavior, but the “thoughts and intentions” of our hearts! We must understand that when the Law says to us “Do not commit adultery” for example, even if we do not commit adultery formally in our bodies, if we think lustfully about a person in our hearts, then we are guilty of adultery (cf. Matthew 5:21ff). If we do not in our behavior really steal from another, but desire to have what belongs to our neighbor we have sin against “You shall not steal.” If we hate our neighbor (those who are around us as human beings), or if we are unwilling to show mercy, love and grace to them perfectly, we have already broken the commandment not to murder!

It is interesting to note that apparently the Apostle Paul before he was a Christian was able to make the first nine commandments “doable” and his sin convinced him that he was a righteous, no “blameless” person before the Law (Phil. 3:5-7). Saul the Pharisee could “fence the law” well enough to do his best and hope for the best from God on the last day, but there was that tenth commandment that caused him to die (as one who was trying to live before God through the Law). In other words, Paul could keep externally and outwardly (or so he thought) the first nine commandments, but the tenth was a doozie!

He recalls in Romans 7:1-11
“What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, "You shall not covet." 8 But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. Apart from the law, sin lies dead. 9 I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. 10 The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. 11 For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me.”

Saul the Pharisee thought more highly of himself that he should have in his law-keeping efforts, but it was the commandment “You shall not covet” that made him realize that he was truly sinful and guilty before God! Coveting is what we all do in desiring something or someone that someone else has! If you are guilty of breaking one commandment, you’re guilty of breaking the whole law (James 2:10). It is interesting to ponder what Paul was coveting. Perhaps he saw another Pharisee more “righteous” than himself, and so he “coveted” the other Pharisee’s righteousness? Hmmmm.

Think of how highly we think of ourselves oftentimes. If we accomplish merely outward obedience, we are quick to say with the Pharisee in Luke 16: “I thank you God I am not like other sinners…” “I’ve lived a good life, trying my best to do God’s will, and I have never murdered anyone!” All kinds of ways we try to gain a right standing before God based on our own so-called law-keeping (even though our best law keeping is law breaking before God’s holy judgment throne!).

The good news paradoxically perhaps is that the more we realize our sins before God, not merely our behavior, but our sinful thoughts, words, as well as deeds, we begin to be humbled before God in such a way that we realize that our only hope is his mercy and grace. In other words, the more we know how much we are condemned before God, the more we realize the grace of God in Christ- - and appreciate the great deliverance and rescue of our Savior.

No one necessarily likes to hear about sin. No one necessarily likes to be reminded of how sinful they are, but we all need to be reminded in order to flee from any effort on our part to please God with our works to Christ alone, his mercy and grace alone, which is our only hope. Listen to the wise words of Martin Luther on the importance of the law to reveal our sins- -as well as to hold out Christ to us for our right standing before God!

“It is an absolute and unique teaching in all the world, to teach people, through Christ, to live as if there were no law or wrath or punishment. In a sense, they do not exist any longer for the Christian, but only total grace and mercy for Christ's sake. Once you are in Christ, the law is the greatest guide for your life, but until you have Christian righteousness, all the law can do is to show you how sinful and condemned you are. In fact, to those outside of Christian righteousness, the law needs to be expounded in all its force. Why? So that people who think they have power to be righteous before God will be humbled by the law and understand they are sinners.”- Martin Luther, Commentary on Galatians.

You see, sin has made all false religions (and some religions that claim to be ‘Christian’) to seek right standing before God in our own works and righteousness- -but this is a failure truly to understand the depths of our sin.

All religions apart from the true gospel revealed in the Christian faith are “works-righteousness” religions, or man’s attempt to please God apart from Christ. Think about all of the other religions, including Islam or Judaism, the goal is to appease God, or please God with our own self-righteousness, and not receive any righteousness that he has revealed to us. In fact, all of the world’s religions, including the most heathen, pagan religions is an attempt to exchange the righteousness of God with that revealed in the Gospel as Romans 1:18-25 teaches us:

Romans 1:16-25: For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, "The righteous shall live by faith." 18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. 24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

“They exchanged the truth about God for a lie…” This is a summary of sin’s deceptiveness on the entire human race. Sin causes us to try to reach up and get to God through our own feeble and puny efforts – only to wind up damned and condemned before God! In contrast, the true gospel is a rescue operation for undeserving, non-seeking sinners who cannot love God from the heart as God commands, who cannot think God’s thoughts after him as God’s commands and do the right thing, and those who cannot will or decide to follow God, or love God, or be obedient to God apart from the regenerating life and power of the Holy Spirit!

We really don’t care about grace, because we want so badly to earn it and to work for our salvation, which is in reality truly falling short of the glory of God and sinning against his Christ, failing to understand truly our sin problem and ultimately nullifying the grace of God in Christ, so that Christ did not have to truly die if we can muster up enough strength and goodness to satisfy God…but the truth is- -we cannot!

As Galatians 2:20-21 teaches us:
“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21 I do not nullify the grace of God, for if justification were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.”

The Apostle Paul writes to the Galatian churches and us today saying it is only in Christ’s rescue operation for sinners that we can ever hope to be saved! Salvation is found in Christ alone: his righteousness, his law-keeping, his Person and his Work in its entirety, and that is why it is “good news”!

Sin is deep and a real problem that we can only be “rescued” or “delivered from” which is exactly Paul’s gospel in a nutshell. Paul says in Galatians 1:3-5 that Christ has been delivered up for our sins. This means that Christ has taken the curse of the Law upon himself (Col. 2:11-16) in order that we might truly be righteous. Christ has become sin for us (2 Cor. 5:21) so that we might receive his righteousness alone and be reckoned or made righteous in God’s sight.

Listen to the good news as Paul says it in 2 Corinthians 5:21:
“For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

When we try to add our good works, or our obedience, or our churchly works, or our faith, or anything else to the simple, amazing, gracious, and glorious gospel of Christ, we have added something else, and we end up nullifying the grace of God. Yet when we truly understand how deep sin goes in our hearts, minds and wills, we are reminded that our only hope for being delivered is through the Lord Jesus Christ!

God sent Jesus to save us, deliver us, rescue us his people, even though we resist and often do not want God’s help!

“Smile!”
I had a wise, godly, and wonderful professor at seminary, Dr. D. Clair Davis, who would remind the students of two important truths that accentuate the grace of God in Christ. He would say (this is the gist what he said, I cannot recall the exact words and I believe he had learned this from his teacher, but I cannot recall…):

“Smile, you’re a bigger sinner than you think…
…but Christ is a greater Savior than you can imagine!”

What did Dr. Davis mean by this statement? This profound and wise statement that he made was in response to those who would often come to him for counseling merely counting the outward sins and transgressions against God. For instance, a student who wanted to grow in godliness might say to Dr. Davis: “I used foul language last evening and became angry and abrupt with my wife and children, and I just feel like such a sinner because of it; I truly want to be like Jesus.”

Now the student’s intent was to be obedient to Jesus, but he was seeing only the outward behavior (that was wrong), and not considering the root of the sinful behavior in his own heart. Christians are in danger when they only consider outward behavior and not the root of that behavior from the heart.

When this student failed outwardly in this way, he wanted to be righteous again essentially, and he was feeling guilty and condemned. Dr. Davis wanted him to realize that his foul language and anger were merely the tip of the sinful iceberg- -and yet Christ was a greater Savior than we can imagine. Dr. Davis was not undermining the importance of God’s Law and commandments, but placing our focus in our failure on Christ’s law-keeping “alone” – and not our own. If we do not understand this, then we may oppositely say something like this:

“I’m a pretty good and righteous person! I have gone a long time without any foul language or anger.” You see the student was focusing on himself and his own righteousness (and not Christ!) when he failed and sinned outwardly, as well as when he succeeded outwardly by not cursing and being angry. At that moment, the student’s righteousness was found in himself plus Christ!

This can be tricky and subtle, and we have to be looking constantly for instances in our lives of “Lord, I thank you that I am not a sinner like…” and rather be looking to Christ and the Law in order to say confidently “in Christ”: “Lord, have mercy on me a sinner.” (cf. Luke 18:9-12). Martin Luther wrote concerning our confidence as sinners being in Christ alone- -not looking even to our best works, but to Jesus and his perfect works and law-keeping for us:

“For human beings by nature, when they get near either danger or death itself, will of necessity examine their own worthiness. We defend ourselves before all threats by recounting our good deeds and moral efforts. But then the remembrance of sins and flaws inevitably comes to mind, and this tears us apart, and we think, "How many errors and sins and wrongs I have done! Please God, let me live so I can fix and amend them." We become obsessed with our active righteousness and are terrified by its imperfections.

But the real evil is that we trust our own power to be righteous and will not lift up our eyes to see what Christ has done for us....So the troubled conscience has no cure for its desperation and feeling of unworthiness unless it takes hold of the forgiveness of sins by grace, offered free of charge in Jesus Christ, which is this passive or Christian righteousness....If I tried to fulfill the law myself, I could not trust in what I had accomplished, neither could it stand up to the judgment of God. So...I rest only upon the righteousness of Christ...which I do not produce but receive, God the Father freely giving it to us through Jesus Christ.”

We must ever repent of how we try to replace the righteousness of Christ with so-called righteousness of our own making—which is no righteousness at all! This is just one example of how we do it, and so we need to learn to say: “Smile! You’re a bigger sinner than you think…but Christ is a greater Savior than you can imagine!”

“Amazing Grace! How Sweet the Sound that Saved a Wretch Like Me!”
If this truth of the gospel would penetrate deep within our hardened and proud hearts and minds, we just might be a gracious, merciful and forgiving people in the Church as Christ has called us to be! A biblical understanding of sin and grace causes true humility to be cultivated in us all, and this causes us to be meek, and for God to dwell with us because we have contrite hearts. Be reminded of these great passages of Scripture:

Psalm 51:17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

Isaiah 57:15 For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: "I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite…

Matthew 5:5 "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

What makes us contrite, meek, and humble but the realization of our need and condition before God as sinners, and to recognize God’s undeserved rich mercy and grace bestowed upon us in Jesus Christ?! Yet there was another gospel that was being preached to the Churches of Galatia, and many were turning to it. In fact, the Apostle Paul says in their turning from the true gospel the people were in reality “deserting him who called him in the grace of Christ!” Paul wrote with great urgency and power of the Holy Spirit:

Galatians 1:6-10: I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel- 7 not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. 10 For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.

Because God’s grace in Christ is so good, wonderful, sweet –and “amazing” as the hymn by John Newton teaches (“Amazing Grace! How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.”), the Apostle Paul was amazed, astounded, perplexed by the fact that the Galatian Christians had so quickly deserted the God who had called them in the grace of Jesus (Gal. 1:6-7). Paul says later that the false gospel that they had heard from the Judaizers had mesmerized or bewitched them (Gal. 3:1ff), and that they were falling away from grace (Gal. 5:4) because they were believing in Christ’s work for them, plus their own works of the law added to it!

“Man-Pleasers” and “God-Pleasers”: Who Are the True Servants of Christ?
The Judaizers were saying that Paul was trying to be a man-pleaser (Gal. 1:9-10) because he is making the gospel “too easy” for the Galatians. Paul writes to defend himself and to say to them that if he were trying to please men, particularly the Galatian churches, he would not be writing a polemical letter loaded with ‘Anathemas’ or condemnations! The Apostle Paul was not fearing man, nor trying to please man with his gospel message, rather as a slave or bondservant of Jesus Christ, he was pleasing God by being faithful to the gospel, whether the Galatian churches liked it or not! Paul was faithful as Christ’s messenger and servant.

Paul writes in Galatians 1:10:
For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.

Paul is saying that a true servant of Christ proclaims the only gospel of God and does not live to please man (or to be a “man-pleaser”!) We need to remember in every age of the Church that what is most important and truly matters for the growth and maturity of Christians is not the messenger of the gospel, as much as the gospel itself that the messenger is proclaiming. It is the gospel that must be proclaimed! There have been great and popular teachers in the church who draw many to hear them (just look at many of the successful radio, television ministries, and the top 10 books being sold at bookstores). Just because these teachers have many who listen to them, learn from them, and support them financially does not a gospel preacher make!

Augustine wrote concerning Galatians 1:10 something we should all remember: “…A person does well in wishing to persuade others when it is not himself that he wishes them to like but the truth that he persuades them of….When one pleases others on account of truth, it is not the messenger himself but the truth of the gospel that pleases….Thus the sense [of Galatians 1:10] is, “Do I then try to please men or God? And since it is men that I am trying to persuade of the truth, do I seek to please them? If I still sought to please men I should not be Christ’s servant. For he bids his servants to learn from him to be meek and lowly of heart, which is utterly impossible for one who seeks to please men on his own account, for his own private and special glory.”- Augustine, ‘Epistle to the Galatians’ (IB.I.10).

Are those today who are claiming to be servants of Christ man-pleasers or God-pleasers? Are they truly faithful as servants of Christ? Are they faithful to being servants of Jesus Christ like Paul proclaiming God’s rich grace in Jesus, despite persecutions, unpopularity, and rejection? What makes a true teacher and preacher of God is a faithful one! It is not how eloquent or wise the messenger is, the important matter is how faithful he is to the message of Jesus Christ. Does he show his servant hood to Jesus (as Paul did as a servant-bondslave, Gal. 1:10) in his faithfulness to Jesus’ message? How do we rightly judge the messenger so that we listen to the truth?

Remember 1 Corinthians 2:1-5:
And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. 2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, 4 and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

We must be reminded always to judge the messenger by the gospel, not the gospel by the messenger. In other words, if a person is truly a messenger of Jesus, it will be the gospel that will reveal this to all, regardless of how weak and unpopular he may be. In every age of the Church there is a temptation to judge the gospel by the messenger. We like and look for eloquence, superior wisdom, and popularity, and when we find a messenger like that, we tend to think that this gospel he is preaching is the right one whether it is or not. We judge the gospel by the messenger rather than the messenger by the gospel. As the people of God we are looking for a proclamation of God’s gospel and a demonstration of the Spirit’s power in changed lives!

If a messenger comes as a servant of Jesus and is not preaching the gospel, he is merely trying to please men and tickle their ears. If he is preaching the one and only gospel in Jesus’ name, he is pleasing God! The same Apostle Paul who wrote the Letter to the Churches of Galatia, also warned Timothy that in the last days, many in the Church would be described like this:

2 Timothy 4:1-5: 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. 3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. 5 As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

Paul soberly charges Timothy and all gospel messengers who come in Jesus’ name to be reminded to always preach the word, the pure and true gospel of Christ that saves God’s people and grows us up into maturity in Jesus. Paul tells Timothy and all gospel messengers to be reminded that they will be faced with a time when people will not endure sound doctrine or teaching, but will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions. Many will turn aside from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.

Have you done this as one who claims to be a Christian? Have you wandered off into following those who say they have a “word from the Lord”, or are “messengers of Jesus”, who gather many together who listen to them, but who are not proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ? Are you constantly testing messengers who come to you in Christ’s name by the message?

If the messenger is not preaching the true and offensive, yet sweet and amazing message of the gospel of Christ who died to save sinners and rescue us from this present evil age, who shed his blood for our law-breaking, and offers grace to all who believe upon his name- -plus nothing - -no works of any kind added to it- -but all of grace- - if the messenger is not preaching this truth then he is no messenger or servant of Christ at all, but a messenger seeking merely to please men—and not God.

Martin Luther expresses wisely and soberly the importance of the only gospel and the messenger bringing it faithfully to Christ’s people! He wrote in his Commentary on the Galatians:

“While we live here on earth, we will be accused, exercised with temptations, oppressed with heaviness and sorrow, and bruised by the law with its demands of active righteousness. Because of this, Paul sets out in this letter of Galatians to teach us, to comfort us, and to keep us constantly aware of this Christian righteousness. For if the truth of being justified by Christ alone (not by our works) is lost, then all Christian truths are lost. For there is no middle ground between Christian righteousness and works-righteousness. There is no other alternative to Christian righteousness but works-righteousness; if you do not build your confidence on the work of Christ, you must build your confidence on your own work. On this truth and only on this truth the church is built and has its being.”- Martin Luther, Commentary on Galatians.

In our time in the Church of Jesus Christ, if we dare to preach the gospel of pure grace alone in Christ alone, we may be persecuted and we may be frequently amazed at how quickly the majority turns away to a different gospel- -which is no gospel at all! If we dare to be messengers who are approved by God as his servants, we will be viewed oftentimes as offensive in our modern world, especially when we talk of such things as sin, sinners, and the blood of Christ, but for those who have ears to hear by God’s grace, we will be offering hope to the lost, and the hope of being rescued and delivered from sin and this present evil age, experiencing the grace and peace of God in Christ, and we will be pleasing God and truly servants of Jesus Christ as the Apostle Paul!

Let the people of God shout loudly with the Apostle Paul:
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, "The righteous shall live by faith."- The Apostle Paul, Romans 1:16-17

As you conclude the study today, ask yourself “What has Jesus already done for me in his rescuing me from sin and this present evil age?” BEFORE YOU ASK: “What would Jesus do?” After you’re reminded of what Jesus has already done, go forth by faith to bear fruit and good works out of gratitude for what he has done for you (but remember that even your best works are flawed!).

Smile! You’re a bigger sinner than you think!

But the gospel is about a Christ who is a greater Savior than you can possibly imagine—and there is constant life-giving grace found in him alone for needy sinners!

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Bibliography for Further Reading

Bruce, F. F. Paul: Apostle of the Heart Set Free.

_________. The Epistle to the Galatians (New International Greek Testament Commentary)

Calvin, John. The Epistles of Paul the Apostle to the Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians, trans. T. H. L. Parker.

Fung, Ronald Y. K. The Epistle to the Galatians (New International Commentary on the New Testament-New Edition).

Gaffin, Richard B., Jr. By Faith, Not by Sight: Paul and the Order of Salvation.

Hendriksen, William. Galatians and Ephesians (Baker New Testament Commentary).

Lenski, R. C. H. The Interpretation of St. Paul’s Epistles to the Galatians, Ephesians, and Philippians.

Lightfoot, J. B. The Epistle of St. Paul to the Galatians (A Zondervan Commentary)

Luther, Martin. A Commentary on St. Paul’s Epistle to the Galatians.

Machen, J. Gresham. Notes on Galatians (Edited by John Skilton).

Morris, Leon. Galatians: Paul’s Charter of Christian Freedom.

Ridderbos, H. N. The Epistle of Paul to the Churches of Galatia. (New International Commentary on the New Testament).

________. Paul: An Outline of His Theology.

Stott, John R. W. The Message of Galatians (The Bible Speaks Today)

Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter 20: On Christian Liberty.

Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, Volume VIII: Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians (edited by Mark J. Edwards).

Worship, Not Evangelism, The Most Important Task

Quoting Robert Reymond . . .

	To worship God - that is the primary reason why the Christian should go to church. In today's church climate this is a radical idea. Nevertheless, Christians should go to church, not to evangelize, not to provide a comfortable "consumer-friendly" setting for the unchurched, not even primarily for the benefit which fellowship with other Christians provides, and definitely not just for lectures and devotionals, but in order to worship God. Christians should also understand that evangelism and the missionary task are not the most important tasks the church has. Such efforts exist among the nations, as John Piper argues in his Let the Nations Be Glad, only because worship of the true God among them does not! ... Anyone who will take the time to study the matter will have to conclude that worship in evangelical churches in this generation is, speaking generally, approaching bankruptcy. There is neither rhyme nor reason, much less biblical warrant, for the order of and much that goes on in many evangelical church services today. The fact of the matter is, much evangelical "worship" is simply not true worship at all. For decades now evangelical churches have been conducting their services for the sake of unbelievers. Both the revivalistic service of a previous generation and the "seeker service" of today are shaped by the same concern--appeal to the unchurched. Not surprisingly, in neither case does much that might be called worship by Christians occur. As a result, many evangelicals who have been sitting for years in such worship services are finding their souls drying up, and they have begun to long for something else. Accordingly, they have become vulnerable to the appeal of the mysterium of hierarchical liturgical services. This is why some today are "on the Canterbury trail" of defecting to Greek Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism. Others who have been simply spectators for years in their worship services are getting caught up in the people-involving worship of charismatic services. ...
From:	A New Systematic Theology Of The Christian Faith

Distinctive Christianity in a Nominal Christian Culture, Part 2: Preaching

By Thabiti Anyabwile

At its root, nominalism blurs vital distinctions. In particular, it blurs the line between the redeemed and the unredeemed life, the regenerate and the unregenerate. The wheat and the chaff grow up together and nominalism calls it all wheat without regard to the bud or the flower when it appears.

Bonhoeffer captured this problem well:

The Christian life comes to mean nothing more tha living in the world and as the world, in being no different from the world, in fact, in being prohibited from being different from the world for the sake of grace. The upshot of it all is that my only duty as a Christian is to leave the world for an hour or so on a Sunday morning and go to church to be assured that my sins are all forgiven. I need no longer try to follow Christ, for cheap grace, the bitterest foe of discipleship, which true grace must loathe and detest, has freed me from that.

Bonhoeffer added in good summary, "It is terrifying to realize what use can be made of a genuine evangelical doctrine."

Terrifying indeed to consider that so many, under the banner of "grace," may be this moment perishing in their sins because we who claim to understand the vital distinctions of Christianity have not made them clear, have not pressed them into the hearts and minds of our hearers, have not in effect loved them enough to be unpopular but faithful.

Preaching is the method for making such distinctions, for drawing the mind upward to Christ in heaven and giving the people then an aerial view of themselves. Right preaching of the Word is a mark of a true church. And right preaching of the Word is God's method for calling dead, dry bones to life. It's how nominalism will be overcome in large measure.

Well, how then might we think of "right preaching"? Better minds than mine have written and spoken on this at length. Today, I just want to add a few quick thoughts for those who are laboring, perhaps frustrated, in nominally Christian contexts.

1. Make a clear sound. Resist the fear of man that drives you away from the sharp edge of the text. Let's pray that our preaching is penetrating, that the sword is wielded with skill, dividing thoughts and intents. Be sure that essentials are proclaimed with all the confidence of Scripture. In a nominal context, we must not make uncertain noises by cluttering the sermon with our opinions, qualifications or equivocations. We must declare the entire counsel of God as straight-forwardly, lovingly, and clearly as possible--especially on essential doctrines.

2. Preach more doctrinal sermons. By this I don't mean boring sermons or sermons that are never applied. But resist that hellish label "practical" sermon, by which most mean "convenient" and "light" application. Our people will sometimes want only milk, especially when that has been the sustained diet for years. They will want sermons that are easy to hear, easy to accept, and just as easily forgotten. Their flesh, like ours, war against the Spirit and His Word. So, we must every-so-patiently but steadily wean them from milk and preach the pure doctrine of Scripture. We must include high, exalted views of God, Christ and the Spirit in our sermons. We need to pay close attention to the doctrines of the Church and conversion as we open the Word. Our task is to lift them a rung on the ladder to heaven by raising them from the mire of self-concern. To do that, we need to ground our sermons on solid doctrine. We need fewer "how to" talks and more "behold your God!" preaching.

3. Address non-Christians clearly. This is something I learned from Mark Dever, who addresses non-Christians in his sermon as clearly as anyone I've seen or heard. Sometimes his sermons seem to be an on-going conversation with the non-Christians in the audience as he breaks to appeal to them, to probe their thinking, to ask a searching question. Most all of us may safely assume that non-Christians are included in our weekly services. We would serve them well to remove their supposed anonymity by pressing home the teaching of Scripture to their cases. Call them to listen. Say something like, "If you are here this morning and you are not a Christian..." then ask the appropriate question from the text. Admit at times that what you are preaching may seem foreign or strange to them, then expound upon the difference between a Christian (regenerate) view of the issue and a non-Christian view. Invite them into the thought life of Christians so that they might understand the distinctions, not just hear them pronounced. Ed Clowney encourages preachers to:

Use dialogue. What are your hearers saying to the Lord? Quote what they may be thinking. Think of how the Lord's Word is addressed to a person in the congregation or audience. Imagine what some of your hearers may be saying to the Lord, and declare His answer from His Word. You are mediating a conversation of a saint and a sinner with the Lord himself. Remember that His Word does not return empty, and that He is speaking it. Keep your language vivid, not by illustrations and figures of speech that steal attention from him, but by vivid references to what the Lord says and does.

4. Get to Jesus. Whatever section or genre of Scripture you're preaching, point to Jesus. Let's teach and preach the Bible the way Jesus did. "Beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself" (Luke 24:27, see also 44-46). Too often, preaching falls into moralism and "life lessons," especially preaching from the Old Testament. We must point beyond such small ideas to the big idea--Jesus' fulfillment of all that is written and promised. This is when preaching is piercing. Most anyone can sit long enough to hear a good illustration reinforcing some moral principle or tip for better living. After all, that serves our own needs. But preaching that points everyone and everything to Christ, insisting upon His lordship and our submission, our repentance and faith, tends to separate wheat from chaff and to make the unconverted uncomfortable. We must never fail to get to Jesus in our sermons, to lift Him up so that He would draw men to Himself.

5. Address people with Jesus' words. Following my sermon this past weekend, two good brothers gave me some helpful feedback. I had preached Psalm 119, and I had meditated on the gospel, but I had not quite "put the psalm on Jesus' lips." They suggested that should I ever preach the psalm again (or any psalm) to be sure to do that. "Of course!' I thought. This is Jesus' Word, it's a Word about Him, and it's the Word that He fulfills. Of course my preaching should place this Word in His mouth. And related to this, especially when preaching the Gospels, we should address Jesus' Words directly to the people. Our words about His words may be okay. But nothing is more arresting than to have Jesus himself speak directly to you. To have the Master ask directly, "Who do you say I am?" Or, "What do you want me to do for you?" "What Did Moses command you?" "Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptizd with the baptism I am baptised with?" We must call our people to hear the Word of the Lord and quote the incisive questions and commands to them so that they are clear that their reaction is either for or against the Lord (not the preacher).

6. Preach in God's Spirit. Because nominalism is spiritual blindness, the Spirit must open eyes and give sight. Our effectiveness as preachers is not in clever speech but in the power of the Holy Spirit. He must accompany our proclamations and seal them to the heart of our hearers; otherwise, it's so much spitting in the wind. Be filled with the Spirit. Pray. Meditate on the Word of God. Plead for God's unction in preaching. Without it, our discourses will fall flat.

Nominal Christianity is deadly, but it's not intractable. Preaching into such a culture the Word of God by the Spirit of God may work a revival of true religion. Preaching is God's appointed means for proclaiming His glory in Christ. And it's preaching that will expose pretenders to that glory and awaken the slumbering. Preach as a dying man to dying men!