Such Love—Part VI

Subtitle: Let's Be A People of the Righteousness of Jesus

Philippians 3:2-9; 12-14.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, May 7, 2023.

This will be our last message on the love of God through Jesus.  We talked about the Incarnation, and how God loved us enough to become one of us.  We then talked about how he laid that life down in order to Redeem us.  Third, we saw the gift of sending the Holy Spirit in order to live within us.  Fourth, we looked at the gift of a sure, confirmed, faithful record of His dealings with humanity in the Word.  Last week, we looked at the gift of prayer that allows us to communicate with God.  And, today, we will look at the gift of the righteousness of Jesus that God shares with us. 

Of course, these do not exhaust the ways in which God has lavished His love upon us.  However, they go to the heart of what God desires for you and for me.  None of us deserve to have our sins covered by another, and yet God loves us enough to make it possible for our sins to be covered by Jesus.  More than that, He also makes it possible for us to become the righteousness of Christ and to live it out.

It is sad that there are people in the Church who are still confused over just what God desires of those who come to Christ.  The apostles of the first century dealt with these issues, and yet they are still with us today.  It is the tension between legalism and hedonism /antinomianism. 

The legalist focuses on an outward conformity to certain rules and glories in their accomplishment of them.  They generally shame others who do not conform to their list of rules, and very often, they shame themselves internally because they know they fall short.

The word antinomian basically means a person who is against law, or rules.  In this context, it refers to a person who believes that they do not need to restrain themselves with sin because the death of Jesus "covers it all."

Both the legalist and the antinomian miss the heart of God in salvation.  The answer is not in finding the right balance between the two.  We should not advocate having some rules, but not getting to carried away with them.  The answer given by the apostles lies not in satisfying a list or rules, and not in having no restraint (i.e., self-discipline).  Rather, it lies in a transformation of the inner and outer man that is led and empowered by the Holy Spirit.

Let's look at our first passage.

Our confidence should be in Jesus alone (v. 2-8)

Paul continually had to deal with false teachers coming in behind him and bringing confusion into the churches that he had started.  A common false teaching was in this area of teaching Gentiles that it wasn't enough for them only to believe in Jesus.  They also needed to take on the works of the Law.  In this case, Paul deals with the pressure for Gentile Christians to be circumcised.

In verse 2, Paul refers to such teachers in three different ways.  He first uses an Old Testament metaphor for a person who does evil things, i.e., a dog.  Thus, the second way of referring to them, "evil doer," essentially defines the imagery of a dog.  The third reference is "the mutilation."  This is a play on the way that Jews would refer to themselves as "the circumcision."  This was a title of honoring the fact that they had the Law and were obedient to God, as opposed to the Gentiles who were ignorant of the Law and were not part of the circumcision.  However, Paul clearly picks a word that turns this on its head.  They are not the circumcision, they are the mutilation.  Obviously, Paul does not see them in a good light.

Paul tells them to beware, or to watch out for such teachers.  They are not going to help them to please God.

For us today, I don't think there are many groups that are promoting circumcision, but we should recognize that the heart of the issue is not so much circumcision as it is requiring something else to be added to our belief in Jesus.  Why do people tend to think that faith in Jesus cannot be enough to save us?

I think it generally has to do with a confusion about the work of God within believers, both its goal and its power.  Thus, Paul ends verse 2 with the recognition that a believer in Jesus will put no confidence in the flesh.

On what do I place my confidence when it comes to salvation?  What makes me know that I am acceptable, or right, with God?  I'm not perfect, but if I were to die today, would I be allowed into the presence of the Lord?  When it comes to salvation, my confidence should always rest upon Jesus, and him alone.

Thus, Paul emphasizes that Christians are to worship God "in the Spirit."  We are not relying on things of the flesh to draw near to God, but instead, we rely upon the Spirit of God to help us worship the Father.

The false teachers would take aspects of the Old Covenant worship, that were legitimate, and teach that they are necessary for believers under the new covenant.  Again, it is to say that faith in Jesus is not enough. 

The heart of worshiping God is to declare that He is worthy of our faith and obedience, of our trust.  Instead of being led by the Spirit of God who was establishing the faith through these apostles, they are being led by men to resist the Spirit and to establish a different wisdom as their guide moving forward.  It is interesting that Israel resisted the leading of the Holy Spirit in the wilderness when the Old Covenant (which was new then) was being established.  They resisted and retreated into the calf worship that they had picked up in Egypt.  Similarly, there is a resistance again as the Spirit leads them out from under the tutorship of the Law into the life of the Spirit of God.

Paul sees this in an enabling to worship.  We are enabled to worship God and please Him, be acceptable, by the help of the Holy Spirit, not by human wisdom, or skill.

Paul is telling Gentiles that "we are the circumcision" who worship God by the help of the Spirit, rather than by the help of the flesh.  They are the circumcision because they have had their hearts circumcised by God Himself.  By the way, this was spoken of even in the giving of the Law.  In Deuteronomy 30:6, Moses describes God's grace in helping them repent through a spiritual circumcision of the heart.  Thus, even under the Law of Moses, it is made clear that the physical circumcision, which they were commanded to do, was symbolic of an inner work that had to be done by God.  No man, or child, circumcises themselves.  They need another human to do it for them.  Who can help me circumcise my heart?  Only God can through faith in Jesus.

Now that Jesus had paid the price and the Holy Spirit was leading the remnant to believe in Him, the symbols of the Old Covenant were no longer needed.

Again, a true believer in Christ should have no confidence in the flesh.  I wish that this was true of most Christians today.  We are dazzled by the flesh today more than we even understand.  It is wonderful to hear someone sing or play music who is extremely good and proficient.  It is wonderful to see beautiful buildings.  However, it is a different thing if this is what dazzles me and gives me confidence in God.

The word confidence in English emphasizes faith.  However, the Greek word has a sense of persuasion.  They are similar, but there is a subtle difference.  Those who are persuaded by what they see and do in the flesh will miss the work that the Holy Spirit is doing.  Paul mentions this in 1 Corinthians 2:1.  Paul did not come to them with great speech, as the Greeks loved to hear.  He was among them in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling.  However, the Spirit of God showed up in powerful ways.  Salvation had come to them through the work of the Spirit, not the flesh of Paul.  Why would they now retreat back to following the flesh?

It was those who put their confidence in the flesh that had rejected Jesus and put him to death, both Jews and Romans (the Jews in a religious way, the Romans in a secular way).  Even the disciples followed Jesus partially because of the Spirit and partially because of the flesh.  Jesus did great miracles and they were convinced he could save Israel.  Their flesh was already to sit beside Jesus when he took control of Israel.  But then, Jesus went to the cross and nailed the flesh, that they had pinned so many hopes upon, to a cross.  I picture God being so fed up with our hunger for a superman, who is head and shoulders above the rest, to save us.  He sends us our superman and then nails him to a cross so that we can finally get the message.  Quit looking to the flesh to save you!

At the cross, we are shown that confidence in the flesh, be it me, another, or even the mortal Jesus, whether religious or secular, will always sacrifice the work of God's Spirit.  When Jesus was crucified on the cross, the hopes they had put on him in the flesh, on a work of the flesh, were crucified as well. 

It is easy to see this as somehow the message of someone who struggled with obeying God, a loser at obeying God's law.  However, Paul cuts this argument off in verses 3 through 6.  He had been one of the "Olympians" of fleshly religion in Israel so he lists his fleshly accomplishments.  It was outside of Damascus that Saul of Tarsus discovered just how much his confidence in his fleshly accomplishments impressed God.  God struck him blind and rebuked him.  "Why are you persecuting me?"

That is what God thought about the "best" that 1st century Judaism could produce.  I wonder what He thinks about the "best" that 21st century Christianity has produced.

Paul had to choose that day when Jesus confronted him.  To follow Jesus and the Holy Spirit, he would have to let go of everything that he had accomplished, and was trying to accomplish.  Those "gains" were keeping him from following God.  He could not have Messiah and hold on to his confidence in a system that focused on the outward.

In a way, the dynamics in Israel did him a favor.  Those in charge in Jerusalem would not be happy if he chose to follow Jesus.  Persecution would come to him.  He knew up front that to choose Jesus was to leave that system behind.  However, the gentiles in Philippi and other places could probably try to keep the Law of Moses and call themselves believers in Jesus.  Yet, Paul is showing them here why that can never be.  To follow Jesus, to follow the Spirit of God, is to  let go of anything else being the source of my confidence.

We might ask at this point why a person would want to hold onto a system of fleshly confidence.  At the heart of the answer, we should see the desires of our own flesh.  The Law of Moses did not set up a system that was focused on the flesh.  It was the leaders of Israel who had taken the Law and turned it into a flesh-based confidence system.  They did this over the top of the witness of that same Law telling them that they fell short and needed the help of God, the circumcision of the heart that only God could do.

Saul let go of those gains in order to have Jesus, to have "the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus" for whom he went on to suffer (v. 8).  He wanted to know this amazing Jesus even if it cost him everything.

Am I a person of the Spirit who is persuaded by the Spirit of God and who places their confidence on The One in whom the Spirit was without measure?

We have a better righteousness (v. 8-9)

As Paul makes his argument, it was easy for people to portray him as advocating the life of the antinomian we mentioned earlier.  Even today, people will speak about a tension between Pauline theology and that of the apostle James.  However, if you read Paul's letters, you will find that he emphasizes doing righteous things, as much as he emphasizes resting in the righteousness of Christ alone for salvation.

Paul is emphasizing that through Jesus, and the Spirit of Christ, we are given a righteousness that is far better than anything we could accomplish under any flesh-oriented confidence system (be it Jewish or Christian).  Jesus himself stated in Matthew 5:20 that unless their righteousness exceeded that of the Pharisees none of them would enter the Kingdom of Heaven.  He knew that this would shock his hearers because they thought of the Pharisees as the "Olympians" of righteousness.  However, in God's eyes, their external, flesh-based righteousness was as filthy rags.  It fell woefully short.  In truth, Jesus is not setting a high bar here.  He is merely speaking the truth.

So, we must start there as Paul points out at the end of verse 8.  My righteous works in and of themselves are rubbish, garbage.  Let me reiterate that point.  It doesn't just say that they fall short.  It is worse than that.  If I invited you over for dinner and overcooked the meal a little bit, it would fall short of being a good meal.  However, if I put garbage on your plate and attempted to serve it to you, it would be gross and insulting.  It isn't just falling short.  It is on the negative of the scale.

This is not to say that it was wrong to obey the Law of Moses.  It is to say that the human heart tends to turn religion into an external performance without internal change.  Saul's problem was not in trying to obey the Law.  It was in refusing to hear what the Spirit of God was trying to say to him through it.  There were plenty of Jews in his day who heard this message from the Spirit and were waiting for the Messiah to come and clean up the mess that the religious leaders of Israel had created. 

In the book of Romans, Paul saw that the Law of Moses served to slow down their fall away from God while at the same time showing them their true spiritual need.

It wasn't rubbish to try and obey God, but it was rubbish to think that his righteousness was enough to please God.  Our righteousness always falls short of true inner transformation that is led by the Spirit of God when its source is about demonstrating that we are good.

Paul contrasts a righteousness that is from the Law (my performance) versus the righteousness that is from God through faith in Jesus.  He is not against the Law.  It had served its purpose.  However, he is against developing a righteousness that merely adds Jesus to what the Pharisees were doing.  Our performance of the Law cannot be the source of our righteousness.

I picture this as an income tax form religion. We can focus on the letter of God's word, and come up with our list of do's and don'ts.  In a sense, instead of letting the Spirit of God audit our hearts, we make ourselves legalists who audit ourselves.  We create a system of understanding that creates people who are really good at doing their "spiritual taxes," but also others who are terrible at it.  O, well, they should be more like Saul of Tarsus. 

We should be hearing what the Word says to our heart about dead works, but our tendency (in the flesh) is to build a religion that pats certain fleshly people on the back.  They are promoted as "those who can get it done."  Then, the people look up to them as amazingly unsurpassable, religious icons. 

Paul found a different righteousness that day outside of Damascus.  When he quit resisting the Spirit of God and embraced Jesus, he was suddenly right with God, pleasing to Him.  Imagine all of the people that Saul had injured, and in a moment his sins are covered!  "That's not fair!"  No, it isn't because none of us will be saved if God gives us what is fair.  The grace of God was available to a man who had been leading saints off to their death.  Simultaneously, the grace of God was given to countless uncircumcised Gentiles who hadn't been keeping the Law of Moses, and now Paul is telling them that they shouldn't keep the Law of Moses.  They were saved when they obeyed the Spirit and put their faith in Jesus alone.  Paul emphasizes this in verse 9: "through faith in Christ..." 

Yes, I am still doing something, righteousness, but the motivation is different.  I went from trying to show God how good I am so that He will save me, to believing in the salvation of Jesus and following Him by the Spirit.  One has a confidence in us, and the other has a confidence in Jesus.

The confusion between salvation and discipleship (v. 12-14)

There continues to be a great confusion in the minds of many between salvation and discipleship.  This can only be because our pulpits are confused on this issue.  We can muddy the lines between being saved and being discipled.  Yet, ultimately, Paul sees the problem's source as evil workers (v. 2) who infiltrate and promote the confusion.

If you are saved, have salvation, you know that you would be with Jesus in heaven if you were to die today.  Discipleship on the other hand has to do with how much you look like Jesus.  We can too easily make a certain nebulous level of discipleship necessary for salvation, and this is a mistake.  In fact, it is not the Gospel.

How many times did the disciples fail, and were rebuked by Jesus?  I didn't count them, but it was many.  Peter himself was rebuked by the Lord with the harsh words, "Get behind me, satan!"  Yet, were they "kicked off the team?"  Did they lose their place in community of believers?  No.  They didn't work their way into the family of God and they couldn't fail their way out.  There is a caveat to that last sentence, but more on that later.  Salvation is based upon my faith in the righteousness of Jesus alone.  I am saved as long as I am trusting in the righteousness of Jesus to be my salvation.  Discipleship also takes faith in Jesus.  Our weakness in being made more like Jesus does not cancel our place in the body of Christ.

It is clear that Paul in verses 8-9 is talking about salvation.  The righteousness of Christ alone can save me.  However, once we are saved, we are to move on to discipleship.  Verses 12-14 are not speaking of salvation.  Paul is not saying that he hasn't "attained" salvation yet.  It is not the "perfected" who "attain" salvation.  He is talking about discipleship.  He doesn't fully look like Jesus yet!  He is still on the path of discipleship, which ends when we enter the presence of Jesus and are resurrected (see v. 10-11).  Paul sees himself in this process of discipleship, being perfected.  Of course, discipleship is a component of salvation, but the point is that salvation is being a child of God, and discipleship is taking on the family likeness.  We do not lose our salvation because our discipleship isn't going so well at the moment.  God is faithful to treat us as sons and "discipline" us (Hebrews 12:5-6).

The Spirit of God is given to us to enable us to become like Christ.  We need to cooperate with the Holy Spirit by turning away from things in our past and turning towards Jesus.  Union with Jesus is what lies ahead.  The Spirit is leading us "upward" out of sin, and into full communion with Jesus as glorified sons of God.

The ultimate prize is Jesus Himself.  Yet, the righteousness of Jesus is not only about a legal exchange of his righteousness to cover my sins.  Just as resurrection will change our mortal bodies so the believer is in a spiritual transformation process in which we are made to be the righteousness of Jesus.  He is teaching us to live out the righteousness of Jesus.  This is discipleship.  The disciples did not disciple themselves.  They were taught by Jesus and the Spirit of God.  So too, we must be led by the Spirit to become more like Jesus.

If you go back to Philippians 2:12-13, Paul emphasizes that we should "work out your own salvation with fear and trembling."  Many people don't know what to do with that verse because it sounds like the legalists are right.  However, Paul is not promoting a new legalism under a different law.

The key is in the phrase "work out."  This corresponds to the phrase in verse 13 "works in you."  Because you are saved, the Spirit of God has taken up residence within you.  He proceeds to work into you the things of God, and you should work that out into your life.  This is the New Testament picture of a believer in Christ.  We are daily working out what the Spirit of God is working in us.  Why should we fear and tremble?  It is not because God is capricious and may jerk the rug of salvation out from under us.  Rather, it is because I don't trust my flesh and its ability to resist and neutralize the work of the Spirit within us.  I take seriously that God is working in me and seek first to understand it, and then to cooperate with it.  Saul was not taking it seriously.  He was fortunate that the Lord in His mercy rebuked him so severely.

God is not in heaven saying, "Why can't you do it!"  Rather, He is inside of us saying, "Take my hand, and I will help you do it!"  How can I say no to such love?

Quickly, let me just remind us of similar verses from Paul in the book of Galatians.

In Galatians 6:7-8, Paul warns believers that even we who have been saved should be careful because God cannot be mocked.  This is what an antinomian does.  They not only believe that the righteousness of Jesus covers their sin, but that it also covers them continuing to sin without even trying to live differently.  This is to make a mockery of why Christ died.  He did not die to leave us stuck in our sins throughout the rest of our lives.  No true Christian will pretend that they can continue to give themselves to sin, and yet, be covered by their "Jesus insurance."  Jude calls this a "license for immorality" in Jude 1:4.  He then says that such an idea is a "denial" of Jesus.  You cannot put your faith in Jesus and deny him at the same time.  To embrace Jesus is to embrace his righteousness, both for salvation and as the work that the Spirit is doing in you.

In Galatians 6, Paul warns that our life is a sowing.  Your choices and actions are sowing seeds to the flesh or to the Spirit of God.  The seeds to the flesh will only reap corruption and destruction.

So, is it possible for our discipleship to become so bad that we "lose" our salvation?  Paul doesn't use that terminology here, but he does warn that if we continually give ourselves over to the flesh, then we will reap destruction.  He had warned them of this back in Galatians 5:16-21.  He counsels them to follow the Spirit and not the flesh.  He then states that the works of the flesh are obvious while listing some.  Notice that it ends with the warning that those who practice such things will not inherit the Kingdom of God.  Whether they were actually saved before or not, we should recognize that there is a whole class of people in Scripture who knew the truth, were part of the being saved community, and yet perished due to lack of faith.  The children of Israel in the desert, Lot's wife, Judas, and many others, perished and reaped destruction because of unbelief.  Thus, salvation is based upon faith in Jesus, but so is our discipleship.  They did not fall short because their discipleship wasn't perfect.  Rather, they fell short because their sowing to their flesh overwhelmed any faith they may have had in God.

Let me close with reminding us of Galatians 2:20.  Paul died on the day that he met Jesus.  From then on, he quit trying to do what he wanted and lived his life to do what Jesus wanted.  He wasn't perfect in performing that, but it was how he lived.  We are to daily crucify our flesh and its desires.  We are not to live out our desires and purposes, but to live out the desires and purposes of God in our life.

So, how is it that our works that are done by faith in Jesus and listening to the Spirit can be clean and acceptable to God?  They are purified by faith in Jesus and washed by the presence of the Holy Spirit as we cooperate with Him. 

This is a daily battle, but do not lose hope.  The Spirit of God will help you in this battle against your own flesh.  Keep your faith in Jesus, that he has redeemed you (saved you), and work on following the leading of the Holy Spirit to become like Jesus (discipling).  Ultimately, we all lay our heads down in death short of perfectly looking like Jesus, but through death and resurrection, He will finish the work in each one of us!  Amen!

Righteousness of Jesus audio

The Acts of the Apostles 26

Subtitle: Stephen's Defense II

Acts 7:9-16.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on December 04, 2022.

Stephen is addressing the Sanhedrin in defense of the charges of blasphemy that are against him.  This is no true defense before the court, unless you see Stephen making his defense to the heavenly court. 

When you have a defense lawyer today, they work every angle in order to get you out of the charges.  This is not what Stephen is doing.  There is a time to use the law and lawyers to defend yourself.  However, there are times that call for standing up and witnessing for Christ, and this is the choice Stephen makes.

Last week, we looked at Stephen reminding them of the call of Abraham, and how he responded to God.  In today’s passage, Stephen moves forward to Joseph.  The family of Jacob was messy.  You might say that all families can be messy.  You probably were not raised in a family that had children from four different wives.  Stephen reminds them of God’s call upon Joseph, and how the envy of the tribal patriarchs was used to accomplish God’s will.

Let’s get into our passage.

Remember Joseph and the tribal patriarchs (vs 9-16)

As with Abraham, Joseph will be highlighted for his faith in God, especially in God’s promises, despite numerous difficulties.

Stephen points out that the brothers of Joseph were envious of him.  The patriarchs of the 12 tribes of Israel were spread out in their ages.  Genesis does not give the years of their births, but we know that Joseph is the eleventh son, and that the twelfth son, Benjamin, is his full brother.  They were both birthed by Rachel.  An interesting note, Benjamin is the only one of the boys that was born in Canaan, Bethlehem specifically.

So, what was driving this envy of Joseph by his older brothers?  First, we have the issue of these four wives.  Jacob only wanted to marry Rachel, but he was tricked by Laban into marrying her older sister Leah.  Jacob worked for Laban for another seven years to pay the bride price for Rachel.  Leah was stuck married to a man who did not want to marry her and loved her sister.  This developed a rivalry between these two sisters where Leah was able to produce four sons for Jacob, and Rachel none. 

This drove Rachel to deploy the “Sarah Tactic.”  She gave her maidservant, Bilhah, to Jacob in order to have children by proxy.  Bilhah would be considered a second-tier wife, and her children would be considered Rachel’s legally.  This, of course, is not as satisfying as having children, but Rachel gets a couple of “points on the board” out of it.  Leah then deploys the same tactic with her maidservant, Zilpah, who also has two children (this time considered Leah’s).  Notice that Jacob is in a tight pinch.  He was tricked into marrying Leah.  Then, how could he say, “No,” to the love of his life who could not have children, and was sorely distressed?  Also, how could he say, “No,” to Leah once he acquiesced to Rachel?  Long story not quite as long, Leah births six sons for Jacob, with another two by her maidservant, Zilpah, for a total of eight.  Whereas, Rachel had two sons- she died birthing the second-, with another two by her maidservant, Bilhah, for a total of four.

Such rivalry between mothers has a way of impacting the children who grow up hearing it and witnessing it.

Secondly, Jacob clearly favored Joseph over the rest of the boys.  He loved him more than the others.

As if this was not enough, we are told of an incident when Joseph was seventeen.  He told his dad about some bad things that his brothers were either saying or doing.  The passage is quite vague as to what the “evil” was.  I am sure they saw him as a tattle tale from that time forward.

Lastly, God saw the hatred of the brothers toward Joseph, and chose Joseph to save his family.  Joseph received two dreams that did not take a great interpreter of dreams to interpret.  Each dream depicted the brothers all bowing down to Joseph.  This seems to be the last straw.  The ten brothers (minus little Benjamin) lie to their father about Joseph being killed by a wild beast, when they had sold him to slave-traders on their way to Egypt.  Okay, we can give Reuben a pass on this one, so the nine brothers.

Let us note that God will use the envy of these older brothers to position Joseph exactly where he needs to be in order to save his family from a famine that will come later.

God had a plan and a purpose for every one of them.  However, God blessed Joseph even though it came with a lot of heartache.  Stephen emphasizes that God was with Joseph and gave him favor.  It sounds so spiritual and awesome.  But remember, Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers.  Imagine the sense of rejection that went deep into his heart.  Imagine watching the hills as you are drug into Egypt, hoping that your father will come to rescue you.  Yet, it never happened.  These things stung and did not feel like the favor of God.

It started to get better when he was purchased by Potiphar.  God blesses him and he is put in charge of the whole household.  Then, Potiphar’s wife falsely accuses Joseph of trying to rape her.  Joseph is thrown into the royal prison.  There he interprets dreams for Pharoah’s baker and butler.  He asks the butler to remember him when he is restored, and yet, the butler forgets about him for several more years.

Psalm 105:19 gives us an interesting commentary on this situation. “Until the time that his word came to pass, the Word of the LORD tested him.”  Sometimes, we romanticize the idea of God being with us and calling us to great things.  We may imagine a few things going wrong, but then they will be quickly fixed when we pray.  However, the patriarchs and the prophets went through many difficult things, even though they were truly blessed and called by God. 

Can we trust God?  Can we believe that He is working all things to the good for us, and for others?  It takes a long time, but Joseph eventually ends up as second only to Pharaoh, in charge of storing up the grain of Egypt for the coming seven years of famine.  This was all because God gave Pharaoh a dream about seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine.  God also gave Joseph the interpretation of the dream.  This greatly impressed Pharaoh. 

Yes, the good times had come, but it was through much pain and sorrow.  Would my faith in God survive such experience?  I pray that it would, just like Joseph’s faith in God persevered to the end.

Stephen then reminds us that the famine was severe enough that it affected Jacob’s family in Canaan.  Jacob then sends the ten brothers down to Egypt to buy grain, which sets up an interesting interaction.

The ten brothers do not recognize Joseph in his Egyptian garb, years later, and not expecting him to be 2^nd in command of Egypt.  Joseph then tests them to see if they have treated his younger brother, Benjamin, in a manner comparable to how they had treated him.

It is clear to Joseph that the brothers are sorry for their treatment of him, and have not harmed Benjamin.  He reveals himself to them and has his family brought into Egypt to live without fear of the famine.  Joseph would care for them.

This raises a question.  Why would Jacob go into Egypt knowing that God had told Abraham that his descendants would be slaves in a foreign land?  In Genesis 46:3, God tells Jacob not to be afraid to go down to Egypt.  God promised to bring his offspring back to the land of Canaan and give them possession of it.  Jacob was able to move to Egypt because he had learned to trust God, even when it might lead to a difficult experience.

Again, Stephen is using the history of Israel and its patriarchs to highlight the importance of faith in God, versus resisting the Holy Spirit.  How important it is to surrender our lives to God.  Of course, we pray for God to help us and deliver us, but we are content with any development because we know that He is always working it towards a good end.  Yet, every generation of Israel had people who resisted the Holy Spirit, just as we have today.

May we hear what God is saying to His Church today, here in these united States of America.  Too many Christians are resisting the leading of the Holy Spirit.  We need to learn to let go of the tradition of men that we have been taught, and cling to the Word of God that we can see with our eyes, and the Spirit of God Whom we can know intimately if we seek Him with all of our heart.  Let’s seek him today!

Defense II

The Acts of the Apostles 25

Subtitle: Stephen's Defense I

Sorry about the delay.  We lost power this week for several days :)

Acts 7:1-8.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on November 27, 2022.

Stephen has been arrested and put in front of the Sanhedrin.  They have charged with multiple counts of blasphemy.

This chapter is Stephen’s answer, or defense, before the court.  It will take a while to get through this chapter, but Stephen is pretty much making the same argument through a multitude of examples from the history of Israel.  He is simply obeying God like Abraham did, like Joseph, like Moses, and like all the prophets.  They, however, are resisting the Holy Spirit just like the tribal patriarchs, the Israelites in the days of Moses, and all of those who persecuted the prophets.

This whole chapter begs the question, “Just who is on trial here?”  Or, we might ask it this way.  Stephen knows that he is on trial before the Jewish Sanhedrin, but he also realizes that they are all on trial before the God of heaven.  If anyone is being blasphemous here, it is the council who continually sits in the seat of Moses, contravening the truth of God.

Let’s get into our passage.

Remember Abraham (vs. 1-8)

The high priest asks Stephen what he has to say in regards to the charges against him.  Stephen starts with reminding them of the patriarch Abraham.  He is extremely important to Israel, the father of the faith.  God’s covenant with Israel was an extension of a prior covenant, or a greater Promise, that God had made with Abraham, their forefather.

Clearly, these men have not forgotten about Abraham per se.  Rather, they have forgotten what is most important about Abraham, and how that should impact their activity.  The most important thing about Abraham is found in Genesis 15:6, “He believed in the LORD, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.”  So, how was this belief, this faith, of Abraham displayed in his life?

First, God had called Abraham to leave Ur and to travel to the place that God would show him.  When you read Genesis 12, it appears that God speaks to Abraham while he is in Haran (a town on the Turkish side of the border with Syria).  Ur is a city much further south between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers.  We would call this Iraq today.  Historically it is also called Babylonia, Chaldea, Sumer, and Mesopotamia.  Yet, in Genesis 15, God tells Abraham, “I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to inherit.”  God seems to date His call upon Abraham back to his time in Ur.  This was the traditional understanding in the first century AD as well.

Abram displayed his faith by leaving his home country and heading out on the road.  He first moved into Northern Aram, Syria.  There he lived until his father died, and then he moved south into Canaan.

It is not clear how to read this.  Was Abraham disobeying to stop in Haran?  Of course, God said that He would show Abraham, as in, Abraham did not know the destination yet.  It is quite possible that God first moved Abraham out of Ur, and then later told him to head south into Canaan.  There is no hint in the Bible that Abraham’s stop in Haran was a moment of wavering faith, so we should not try to force it into that narrative.  Stephen’s language is “He [God] moved him [Abraham] to this land in which you now dwell.” (Acts 7:4 NKJV).  I believe it is best to see this as God leading Abraham in a staged fashion.

Ultimately, Abraham is depicted as one who believed God.  He believed God to the degree that he held nothing of his family and ancestors sacred.  He let it all go in order to follow God.  Imagine God speaking to you such a thing today.  Of course, God’s calling is not always about geography as it was with Abraham.  However, it is always about the things that make us comfortable and shroud the truth of God to us.  Abraham needed to leave Mesopotamia, and eventually Haran, if he wanted to fully know God.  We too will have to let go of things in order to fully know God and walk in the inheritance that He has for us.

Once Abraham was in Canaan, God promised the land to his descendants.  Abraham lived as a nomad in the deserted areas between the cities and towns of Canaan.  Thus, Stephen says that he did not have an inheritance.  Abraham lives the rest of his life in a land that he has no inheritance in and has faith in God’s promise that it would be given to his descendants. 

There are two facts that add to the amount of faith that Abraham displays.  First, Abraham was 75 years old when he left Haran and 99 years old when Sarah became pregnant.  So, this whole time he believed that God would help him, even though he did not have any offspring.  Yes, even back then, Sarah was considered past child-bearing years.

In fact, this is what led to the whole Hagar fiasco.  Sarah’s lack of faith led Abraham to also stumble in trusting God.  Yet, that stumbling was not without recovery.  God help us as spouses to be careful in this area.  We do not want to be a stumbling block to our mate.

All of us will have difficulty walking in faith with God without stumbling.  We must be quick to admit our fault when the Lord holds us accountable, and we must be quick to repent and turn back to the proper path.  In Abraham’s case, repentance would not erase the effects of his lack of faith.  God can redeem these things, even though they will add difficulty to our path.  Abraham learned a valuable lesson about waiting upon the Lord.  God always has a better plan than we can make for Him.

The second fact that adds to the amount of faith Abraham had is that God revealed to him that his descendants would be slaves in a foreign land and not return to take up this promise for 400 years.  God makes some awesome promises to Abraham about judging that nation, and giving Canaan into their hands, but why let them become slaves in the first place.  Also, it would be such a long time down the road.  Can you imagine God calling you to a place in which you have no inheritance and dwelling as a nomad all your life, and it won’t truly “pay-off” for your descendants until 400 years down the road?

Knowing the future is not all that it is cracked up to be.  God in His mercy reveals enough of the future that we can have confidence, yet not so much that we would be overwhelmed.  Of course, people lose confidence in God every day, and feel overwhelmed with life.  However, this is not a lack of God’s grace, but a lack of my faith.

Following God is never easy.  It always calls us to live a life of faith and pass the torch on to the next generation.  Abraham’s life seems grand in the telling of it, but it was quite domestic in the overall living of it.  Long periods of time can grind a weak faith into powder.  However, that same time can increase our faith little upon little, layer upon layer.  Abraham’s journey to a life of great faith was a series of days in which he kept trusting God.

Stephen then touches on something that Israel took great pride in.  They were the circumcised as opposed to the uncircumcised Gentiles.  In Genesis 15, God cuts a covenant with Abraham, but it is in Genesis 17 that God reconfirms His covenant and gives Abraham a task.  He must circumcise himself and his offspring.  This circumcision is a sign, a symbol, or a token, of the covenant that God was making with Abraham.

Now, the Apostle Paul in Galatians chapter 3 makes a big deal about the fact that this covenant with Abraham is technically a Promise, whereas the covenant at Sinai had a great number of requirements that Israel had to do.  Yes, Abraham needed to walk before God in blamelessness and circumcise his offspring, but Israel would receive a whole set of laws that involved stuff beyond the moral realm of right and wrong.  This covenant of Sinai and its laws become the works of the Law versus the fruit of the Spirit shown in Abraham’s life.

May God give us a heart like Abraham’s that was not afraid to follow God into new places that we have never seen.  You will stumble along the way, but He will be faithful.  He will always show you your fault, and He will always point out the door of repentance.  Let’s walk through that door into life every day!

Defense I audio

The Acts of the Apostles 11

Subtitle: Peter Preaches Again

Acts 3:11-16.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on July 31, 2022.

The healing of the lame man at Gate Beautiful creates quite a stir on the temple mount as news of the healing spreads throughout the crowds.  Peter and John end up under what is variously called Solomon’s Porch, or Colonnade, or even Portico.  This puts them on the east side of the Temple mount under a roofed series of columns that was open towards the Temple.

The lame man is clinging to them.  It appears that he is excited and no doubt there are levels of hugging and not wanting to be separated from them.  Let’s say that he is most likely in a level of shock.

It is not clear how long this takes place after the Day of Pentecost excitement, but it seems to be a matter of days to weeks.  Acts chapter 2 ended with several general statements about that first group of believers that sets up this healing and preaching.  First, we are told that “many wonders and signs were done through the apostles,” and that they were meeting daily with each other in the temple.

Let’s look at Peter’s words to the crowd.

Peter contrasts their actions with God’s

Peter walks through the events with Jesus, but you will notice there is a sense that follows this pattern.  You did this and yet, God did that.  Or, we could state it as, God did this, and yet, you did that.  This will lead up to the reality that they need to repent and believe upon Jesus, but more on that next week.

The first focus is on the action of the crowd.  We are told that they are “greatly amazed” and “marveled” while looking intently at Peter and John.  They are giving more attention to Peter and John than they should be because they don’t understand the connection to Jesus.  Peter is going to be very careful to turn their eyes back to Jesus by verse 16.

This is a classic error whenever God does something either miraculous, or simply changing the order of things within a group.  We can become overly focused on the person or people through whom God is operating.  In this case, God is using a righteous man to do a good thing.  However, God can also use wicked people for discipline and to draw people to repentance.

We must not think that Jesus is inactive in heaven today.  All authority and power on earth has been given to him.  Just as we saw that it is he who was, and still is, pouring out the Holy Spirit upon believers, so too when history changes, it is by the authority of Jesus that it occurs.  We must never forget this aspect.  Whether great good, or great judgment, we must always humble ourselves and seek what the Lord Jesus is saying through the events, rather than obsessing on those through whom the events come.  When good happens, he gets all the glory.  When bad things happen (according to our perspective), we must humble ourselves before him in order to understand what he is saying, what his plan is through this.

Verse 13 points to the fact that God the Father had glorified Jesus before them.  I believe that Peter is making a similar point as he did in chapter 2 when he said that God had attested Jesus to them through miracles, wonders, and signs.  In this case, he uses the verb glorified.  We can also add to this the angelic visitations that occurred around his birth.  However, most of this was during the 3 ½ years of the ministry of Jesus.  Notice that this is what God had done.

He reminds them that this is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  The same God who spoke with them and did amazing things before them, was speaking to them now.  Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are commended because they believed God and followed Him in faith. 

Jesus is also described as “His Servant.”  All of the righteous of any age are in simplest terms, servants of God.  Jesus had come to serve God’s purposes, and that purpose involved serving Israel, and then the Gentile nations.  Jesus had come from God to powerfully serve them, and God the Father had been faithful to make it clear to them that Jesus was approved by Him.  Yet, how did they respond to that?

They had delivered Jesus up and denied him before Pilate.  God had given Jesus to them, and they in turn, handed him over to the Gentiles for execution.  God had testified to them that Jesus was from Him, but they testified that he was not.  The word “denied” has the sense of speaking against someone.  They did these things over the top of Pilate deciding that Jesus should be released.  This is not to say that Pilate is a righteous man. 

Peter makes this point even more pointed by calling Jesus the Holy and Righteous One.  Jesus had done no sin among them, was set apart by God for His purposes for them.  Jesus was The Holy and Righteous One, but they refused to stand with him, as the Father was doing.  This was not the actions of the Patriarchs!

Even worse, they had asked for a murderer to live and for Jesus to be killed.  They would rather a wicked person live than the righteous Jesus.  Peter gives Jesus the title Prince of Life to hammer home the horrifying nature of what they had done.  The word “Prince” here is not a word that refers to a king’s son who has no power yet.  It refers to the principal leader, and has connotations that go back to Daniel 9:25, which speaks of Messiah, the Prince (or “Leading One”).  Jesus is the source of life due to the fact that he was the principal agent of creation.  However, he has now become the principal agent of salvation, which offers life to those who have become entangled in sin and its resultant death, both in this life and the next.  Jesus is not just dispensing life.  He is both the source, and the only one who can lead us into true life!

Imagine having the One who is life and leads to life being killed while asking for a murderer who is his opposite.  Also, imagine doing all this while claiming to be the righteous ones of this world.  This is not a Jewish problem either.  The irony is particularly heavy in the events Peter describes, and yet every generation that has ever faced the man Jesus must answer as well.  Who are you really?  What will you do with Jesus, his message, and his people?  No matter how many moral cloaks the nations of this world put on, they one by one fall into the same pattern as Israel in the first century.  However, we have the added guilt of having an example clearly set before us.

They had killed Jesus, but God raised Jesus from the dead.  Peter and the other disciples were witnesses to this reality.  Jesus is not dead.  He is still alive!  Their plan didn’t work then, and it won’t work today.  God was overturning their decision.  However, it is better put in this way.  They had been trying to overturn God’s decision to send them Jesus the Prince of Life.  You can’t kill the source of life.  You will only end up destroying yourself.

The decision that this world is making, to ignore Jesus and make a better world without him, cannot overcome the decision of God the Father.  He has installed Jesus as King over heaven and earth.  Not only do we fight against this at our own peril, but ironically, we reject the only one who can lead us into life, and a better world.  Rather, we build upon a foundation of murder and death.  This cannot end well.

Are we not putting Holiness and Righteousness to death in our society?  In fact, are not many religious leaders and people today joining in this through redefining what is holy and righteous?  Can we not see ourselves in this mirror that the Lord Jesus has given to the world through Israel?  Yet, the true question for all of us is this.  What am I doing in my heart and in my mind?  God help my heart to humble down and follow Jesus so that I might know true holiness, true righteousness, and the true life that only he can give.

This brings us full circle.  In verse 16, Peter ties back to the crowd looking at him and John as if they had done this.  This healing of the lame man can only be credited to this same Jesus they had crucified.  What amazing grace.  They had crucified him, but Jesus was now still performing miracles in their midst.  Jesus had given this man the ability to walk, and to leap, and to praise God! 

This sentence comes across into English a bit clumsily.  However, Peter points to Jesus in three ways.  First, the name of Jesus has healed this man.  Peter does not mean this as if saying the name works like a mantra.  This is the pagan concept of “words of power.”  Jesus did not come to reveal some kind of hidden word of power that now heals people. 

In Hebrew thought, a man’s name had the sense of his reputation, which Western culture has picked up through the Bible.  We speak of a man having a good name in the community.  However, it also included the power and authority of the person.  Thus, Peter is saying that it is the power and authority of Jesus that has done this miracle.  Let us never forget that any powerful work of God is completely by the power and authority of Jesus.  This is foundational.  Without Jesus authorizing it and empowering it, nothing can be done, even by a person who has been powerfully used by God in the past.  No man should ever be given credit, or gazed at in amazement as if they had done it.  This is a huge problem within any group.  Pentecostals can be overly enamored with those whom they believe God is working powerful miracles through.  However, even other groups can be enamored with leaders that they believe God is powerfully using in more natural things. 

Let me repeat, no person should ever be given the credit.  They cannot do anything without Jesus authorizing and empowering it.  Also, let us dispense with the idea that Jesus gave a blank check authorization and empowerment to his people to do anything that they can have faith for.  There are seasons in which God is doing different things.  Even the most righteous must learn to walk in humility before God and cooperate with what He is doing.  The Church has continued to fail in this whole category.  We can blame it on the leaders, but the source of the problem is in the hearts of the people, which tends to elevate the wrong kind of leaders in their midst.

The second thing Peter says in verse 16 is that this healing was done through faith in the power and authority of Jesus.  Yes, Peter was used by Christ to be an ambassador of the healing power of Jesus.  But, more importantly, Peter represents those who still had faith in the power and authority of Jesus, even though he had been executed.  Of course, the death of Jesus precipitated a crisis of faith for Peter.  However, the resurrected Lord not only forgave Peter, but cured him of ever thinking that he could tell Jesus what needed to happen next.  Jesus knew what he was doing.  This group of believers were marked by their faith in the person and power of Jesus, not just what he did in the past, but also in what he is doing right now!

The third thing Peter says in verse 16 is that the faith that comes through Jesus had healed this man.  In a sense, Peter is saying that even his faith in Jesus had come to him through Jesus.  Peter is taking no credit for this.  He knew himself.  He knew that he would have not done anything if Jesus had given up on him, and hadn’t faithfully taught him.  Without the grace of Jesus, Peter would still be on the Sea of Galilee fishing.

May we be a people who are letting Jesus teach us and give us faith in him, so that we might be a conduit of the power and authority of Jesus.  Whether that is displayed in healings and powerful works is not our worry.  Our only focus is faithfulness, courage, and keeping our eyes upon him.

Today, we might accuse Peter of not being sensitive to people.  Yet, truth must risk offense, especially when eternity is on the line.  Notice this contrast between what God is doing and what they were doing.  This is the point today.  Always the challenge is keeping in step with what God is doing, rather than following the figment of our imaginations in the wrong direction.

Peter Preaches Again I audio