By the Spirit of God we have all been united together as one body, one people; not only we who are here in this local congregation but together with all those who confess the Triune Name throughout the world, having been baptized in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We are Christians, confessing Christ and living as His representatives in the world. And what this means is that we have a kinship together, a kinship more fundamental than any other kinship. Before ties of family; before ties of ethnicity; before ties of nationality come the ties that join us together by faith in the Son of God who gave Himself for us that He might bring us to Himself and unite us with one another. Before I am a Bryan, I am a Christian; before I am of Scots-Irish descent, I am a Christian; before I am an Idahoan, I am a Christian; before I am an American, I am a Christian. Consequently, the struggles, hardships, and joys of Christians throughout the world and of my Christian brethren here are my struggles, my hardships, my joys. And it is this that Nehemiah’s response to the news from Jerusalem teaches us. What does it mean to be part of the people of God? What does it mean to live in covenant? It means to identify with and pray for these people who are my people.
Nehemiah Part II – Exiled for Our Sin (1:1-4)
June 6, 2010 inAs we mentioned last week, the incident before us took place in the 20th year of King Artaxerxes which would be around 446-445 BC. Nehemiah was in the Persian capital at Shushan or Susa, a winter residence of the Persian kings near the Persian Gulf. One of Nehemiah’s brethren, a man by the name of Hanani, brought news back to Susa from the city of Jerusalem. This news, we see, caused Nehemiah great turmoil and distress. He had perhaps hoped to receive a favorable response to his inquiry. After all, the Israelites had been back in Jerusalem for close to a hundred years by this point. So what happened? How did Israel end up in exile in the first place, and why weren’t things improved by Nehemiah’s day?
Nehemiah Part I – Anointed for Service (1:1a)
May 30, 2010 inToday we enter – finally! – upon a study of the book of Nehemiah. To begin our study, it is absolutely necessary for us to understand why Nehemiah was able to accomplish the things that he did. And the answer, not surprisingly, is that the Spirit of God was upon him. Though the phrase is never used, the truth of it permeates his ministry. God enabled him, God empowered him, to serve the people of God in just this way. Nehemiah was a great man not because of some intrinsic quality but because God made him so. Nehemiah’s great deeds are the result of his Great God inspiring and empowering him for service. It is this we shall see as we survey Nehemiah today.
The Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-41)
May 23, 2010 inLuke writes in the opening verse of Acts, “The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach…” Luke is pushing Theophilus, and us, to realize that the close of Jesus’ earthly ministry with the Ascension was not the close of His ministry altogether. And it is the continuation of His ministry, by the power of the Spirit, that is the subject of our meditation this morning. Today is Pentecost Sunday, the day we celebrate the outpouring of the Spirit upon the Church. What it the meaning of this event and what application does an understanding of this have for our calling as a congregation of God’s people?
Ascension 2010 – Sit at My Right Hand (Ps 110)
May 16, 2010 inToday is Ascension Sunday, one of the six evangelical feast days that was retained by the Reformers as a means of celebrating the pivotal moments in the life of Christ. Technically, Ascension Day was last Thursday – 40 days after Easter Sunday. But we have yet to recover celebrating Ascension mid-week and so we’ll rest content for now with a Sunday celebration. So what is the Ascension and why did Jesus consider the Ascension such a critical point in His earthly ministry that he censured Mary Magdalene for neglecting it?
The Image of God (Gen 1:26-28)
May 9, 2010 inOne of the issues that perplexed me for many years is, “What does it mean that we are created in the image of God?” Despite serious attempts to uncover the meaning of God’s image, I found myself foiled and frustrated again and again. So what exactly does it mean that we are made in the image of God and how should we go about answering that question? These are the questions I would like us to answer this morning.
The question of mankind’s creation in the image of God is a question in the realm of what is called “anthropology.” The word “anthropology” is the study of two words “anthropos” – man and “logos” – word or doctrine. Anthropology therefore is the study or doctrine of man. What is man? In particular, what does it mean that man is made in the image of God?
The Jerusalem Above (Gal 4:21-31)
May 2, 2010 inMany Christians today urge us to support the cause of the modern nation of Israel. The nation of Israel, we are told on one website, is “God’s special place on earth”, “a land for which God cares” in a special way, more than He does all the rest of the earth. Good News for Israel declares, “Israel is the linchpin in studying Bible prophecy… Without Israel, Bible prophecy doesn’t make sense.” And so a study of Nehemiah, with this mindset in place, would urge us to pray for modern day Jerusalem and invest time and money in the modern nation state of Israel.
But let me suggest that such folks, as well intentioned and passionate about Jesus as they are, are terribly misled. And the tragedy of their error is that rather than supporting the advance of the Kingdom of God by their work, they are undermining it. Why do I say this?
The Things Concerning Himself (Lk 24:25-27, 44-49)
April 25, 2010 inToday I want to point out one more feature of Jesus’ words to the disciples that will help direct us as we approach the Old Testament. Too often in Christian circles there is a tendency to approach the Old Testament as though Christ had not come and given us the definitive interpretation of its meaning and significance in Himself and His Kingdom. As we will see in the course of this morning, Christ and the Apostles were convinced that what the prophets had anticipated, what all Israel had awaited, was precisely what Jesus had done while on earth and what He was continuing to do as He reigned, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, at the right hand of the Father.
All the Scriptures: Identifying the Word of God (Lk 24:25ff)
April 18, 2010 inLast week we learned that our calling as the people of God is to respond to the Word of God with willing and eager hearts. Our hearts are to be inclined to the Word of God, loving it, treasuring it, valuing it – and from this heart attitude will proceed a life changed, transformed, and remade into the image of the One who gave us His Word.
But this response begs a certain question, does it not? What is the Word of God? Where are we to find it? How to identify? Is the Old Testament part of the Word of God? Only the NT? Only portions of both? And, of course, in addition to these types of questions, there are related questions we could consider – what are we to make of other holy books, the Koran, the Book of Mormon, etc? The related questions we’ll reserve for another time. Today I want us to consider the more narrow question of the inspiration of the Old and New Testaments – are both to be considered the Word of God for Christians?