Table of Contents s272

Table of Contents: Greed: The Favorite Sin of Free Enterprise “We Are Beggars, This Is True” Freedom in Christ Exegetically Speaking Following God Words to Stand You on Your Feet Jewels from Past Giants Marks of the Master Advancing the Ministries of the Gospel Book Reviews News Update Sermon Helps Puzzles and ‘Toons ______Greed: The Favorite Sin of Free Enterprise By Joe McKeever

“Is life passing you by because you don’t have a high definition television? Well, now you can....” The advertisements in the various media make no secret of it. If you do not have the latest computers, televisions, phones, and other techno-gadgets, if you are not driving a car less than three years old and equipped with rear cameras, heated seats, and Sirius radio, you are surely among the deprived in this world. You must be the poor and deprived we keep hearing about. Life is passing you by. That’s how it feels to some of us. Teens in particular fall prey to this deadly syndrome. The old-timers called it avarice; we know it as greed. Twenty years ago, Wall Street was telling the world that “greed is good,” that the hunger to get more and more, to gain and possess and control and dominate, was all good. If anyone is listening to Wall Street any more, they’re not saying. And yet, greed is alive and well in this country. And every other country, too, I expect, since it seems to be related to the depravity of the human heart and not geographically situated. “Those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition” (1 Tim. 6:9). Someone responds, “I don’t want to be rich. I don’t actually care for money. I just want the things money buys.” That’s a little word- game we play to camouflage our grasping, groping greediness. We are material people. God made us as physical beings and situated us in a physical world. We do not believe that “things” are bad in themselves. They are neutral. They are servants of ours. We are the ones who use them for good or ill. We have needs. At the most basic level, we need food, clothing, and shelter. At the next level, we will be requiring certain assistance for headaches, broken limbs, and failing eyesight—health care. We need friends. And we will need a medium of exchange so that the turnips from my garden can be swapped for the corn from your field and the berries from hers. “But I need these things!” Someone has said we are rich in relation to the number of things we can do without. Put another way, we are poor according to the number of things we require in order to function. What do we actually need? New drapes in the bedroom? A larger television, one with clearer definition so we can read the fine print at the bottom of the screen? A car with fewer miles and more room? A faster computer? A computer at all? A phone? A smartphone? The Apostle Paul wants to get into this conversation: “Now there is great gain in godliness with contentment, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs” (1 Tim. 6:6-10). Scripture has a simple answer to greed: be content. Greed is a cruel master. It can drive people to do awful things, to use and misuse and abuse people, and when it is frustrated to do even worse things, such as kill others or oneself. Everyone knows who the richest man in town is: George Bailey (of Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life)—the man who devotes himself to serving others and who keeps his own needs simple; the person who gets his biggest joys and greatest pleasures from making a difference in this world; a family man; a people person. He’s a fellow who hardly notices what he’s driving, who sees the latest models in the showroom and ignores them as irrelevant in his world. He’s immune to the enticements of marketers who want to draw him in and compromise his income for the next decade. The richest woman in town likewise looks like anything but money. For her, Paris’ latest fashions might as well be intended for Martians. She devotes herself to serving and blessing others. Her 1950ish kitchen suits her just fine. She’s lived in that house many years now and it’s paid for; why in the world would she want to go into major debt just to move across town to the new development and take on additional responsibilities in a massive house she does not need? Be content. “I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content. I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Phil. 4:11-13). Many of us—to our shame, not enough of us—admire the country fellow who, at the end of a long day when he had seen the sights of the big city for the first time, knelt by his bedside and prayed, “Father, I thank you I didn’t see a thing today that I want.” Greed is the engine that drives this economy. Make no mistake. A half century or more ago, Vance Packard wrote a classic exposé of our country’s dependence on greed called The Waste Makers. He spoke of the “planned obsolescence” which manufacturers build into their products and of Detroit’s revolutionary idea of changing the features of each year’s model so people would always want the latest cars. One of the saddest things I know is that the Christmas season has become their most effective instrument. Many merchants take in a third of their annual receipts during the few weeks supposedly devoted to honoring Jesus Christ and the spirit of giving. Let’s admit that we are not going to change everyone and do what we can for those nearest us. Here are a few suggestions for pastors and church leaders. 1) Set the example yourself. The greediest person in the congregation feels affirmed when he sees his pastor going into hock for a house or car far beyond his means. In so doing, the pastor loses his voice. Never again will he be able to speak out forcefully against greed and debt. His own love for money—or the things money can buy—has done him in. 2) Lead your family from the very first. When courting, it’s a great idea to make sure you and your intended share the same values in the areas that count most. Many a pastor has seen his ministry sabotaged by a wife who wants to climb socially and thus hounds him for bigger houses, finer cars, and more expensive clothes and clubs. 3) Teach and preach this again and again. This is one of those lessons that will not stay taught. The world rushes in every time we pause for rest. So we must not rest, but keep the pressure on. Teach the tragic story of Achan, and do not fail to point out the consequence of his greed upon his entire nation. He confessed, “When I saw among the spoils a beautiful Babylonian garment, two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them” (Joshua 7:21). 4) Protect your family from temptation as much as possible. Suppose your family has dinner with a church family that epitomizes affluence in every way. The multiple garage holds a half-dozen luxury cars. The home, a near-castle, is furnished so lavishly as to be the envy of Queen Elizabeth. Several staff keep the yards beautiful and the household humming. Now, on the way home or over lunch the next day, your family has a discussion. Dad and mom will listen carefully to sense the lessons their children took from that visit. Children must be taught—repeatedly, by word and deed— that life does not consist in an abundance of things (Recognize that? It’s from Luke 12:15). Do not let your children see you sacrificing the most important things in life in order to have more luxuries—bad, bad lesson. Do not ever, ever cut back on your giving to your Lord through your church in order to drive a better car or have more things—one of the most serious sins of all. 5) Protect your church from the same temptation. Suppose again you’re doing a redecoration project at the church; tough decisions will need to be made. You want the Lord’s house to be attractive and inviting but without being ornate. We are all familiar with poverty-stricken towns which have in their center an ornate church with gold- encrusted and bejeweled adornments. There is something seriously wrong with such standards. Shame on the church which cuts back on its mission giving in order to have a more expensive building. 6) Keep your eyes on the Lord. Take them off and they will move automatically to the mall, the automobile showroom, and the computer store. 7) Devote yourself to being a giver. Delight in giving more this year than last. Do not tell others of this, because this too can be a snare. It’s a constant war, Christian. You will not conduct one battle and erect a “Mission Accomplished” banner. This struggle will be ongoing so long as you breathe earthly air. Only when life ends and you find yourself intaking celestial air will you find the truth of the Lord’s command: “But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven…. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matt. 6:20-21).”

Joe McKeever is a retired Southern Baptist pastor from New Orleans, Louisiana. He blogs regularly at www.joemckeever.com. ______“We Are Beggars, This Is True” By Shea Oakley

In a society marked by more personal wealth, more personal power and more options for self-expression than any other in human history, we have almost forgotten that the possession of all three of these things does not solve the basic human dilemma. In the 21st century West, the mantra of our entire culture is “if you can dream it, you can do it.” We have collectively bought into the lie that we are somehow largely masters of our own destiny. The gurus of self-esteem and self-actualization have deified “human potential” as the ideal. In doing so they have made idols of the prerogatives we have as members of a materially rich, socially mobile and personally “empowered” society. In this, most of us have collectively forgotten what so many previous generations deeply understood, that human life is precarious, short and anything but inherently independent. We have forgotten our mortality, our inborn limitations and our status as a fallen race alienated from the only One who can save us from ourselves. We have also forgotten that our very lives, both physical and spiritual, depend on the moment-to-moment mercy of a transcendent and holy God. The general exceptions to this rule among the denizens of the First World are those who have either acquired everything this world has to offer and then lost it, and or those who have acquired everything this world has to offer and found it meaningless. These are the people who have hit rock bottom and come to realize that we are not the masters of the universe. Rather they recognize what Martin Luther told us 500 years ago when he commented that, when it comes to fallen humanity, “we are beggars, this is true.” The problem today is that we have the illusion of self-empowerment. We’ve gotten so used to our age’s technical mastery of much of nature that we have begun to think that mastery extends to ourselves and our individual destinies in some kind of virtually omnipotent way. Apparently the reality that the grave awaits us all has become something to deny rather than reckon with. We also deny that our very power to keep ourselves alive, much less “self- actualize” ourselves, comes not from us, or our will, or our ability, or anything else intrinsic to us. We are entirely without personal power that is not borrowed, through common grace, from the Lord of the Universe and we do not deserve even that. When it comes to facing the Provider of all good things, a Provider that we are all born in collective rebellion against, we truly are the beggars Luther speaks of. It is simply that most of us don’t know it and don’t care to know it. That is why all the goal-oriented, self-possessed, positive- thinking achievers in this culture are, apart from eventual surrender to God’s program of redemption, on their way to the utter loss and futility of a Christless eternity. I suspect the only way this would reverse itself on a societal scale would be some kind of economic and political catastrophe, the kind of catastrophe that would remove from us all the things in life that we for some reason believe are our birthrights as rich Westerners. Take away all the structures of wealth and political stability that give us the illusion of personal power and we’ll see how long the “if we can dream it, we can do it” philosophy of life continues. Not for long, I’d wager. The chimera of the “self-made” man or woman is just that, a chimera, a fantasy, a self-delusion. Yet this idea permeates the culture of our day and is constantly pounded home to us by the popular media. It is, in a sense, the majority religion of our age, but it is a bad religion and one that will not survive the ongoing moral decline, to be followed by the economic and political decline of the Western world. If the Lord tarries, and civilization of any kind endures, future historians will surely look back on the idea of “personal empowerment” and “human potential” as one of the greater follies of history.

Converted from atheism in 1990, Shea Oakley has written over 350 articles for electronic and print publications since 2002, including Disciple Magazine (and Pulpit Helps Magazine), The Christian Herald, The Christian Post, Christian Network and Crosshome.com. In 2003 he graduated from Alliance Theological Seminary with a Certificate of Theological Studies. Shea and his wife Kathleen make their home in West Milford, New Jersey. ______Freedom in Christ By Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Three selected devotions on a theme.

I. The Price of Freedom “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord” (Luke 4:18-19). None but Jesus can give deliverance to captives. Real liberty comes from Him only. It is a liberty righteously bestowed; for the Son, who is Heir of all things, has a right to make men free. The saints honor the justice of God, which now secures their salvation. It is a liberty which has been dearly purchased. Christ speaks it by His power, but He bought it by His blood. He makes you free, but it is by His own bonds. You go clear, because He bore your burden for you: you are set at liberty, because He has suffered in your stead. But, though dearly purchased, He freely gives it. Jesus asks nothing of us as a preparation for this liberty. He finds us sitting in sackcloth and ashes, and bids us put on the beautiful array of freedom; He saves us just as we are, and all without our help or merit. When Jesus sets free, the liberty is perpetually entailed; no chains can bind again. Let the Master say to me, “Captive, I have delivered you,” and it is done for ever. Satan may plot to enslave us, but if the Lord be on our side, whom shall we fear? The world, with its temptations, may seek to ensnare us, but mightier is He who is for us than all they who are against us. The machinations of our own deceitful hearts may harass and annoy us, but He who hath begun the good work in us will carry it on and perfect it to the end. The foes of God and the enemies of man may gather their hosts together, and come with concentrated fury against us, but if God acquits, who is he that condemns? Not more free is the eagle which mounts to his rocky aerie, and afterwards outsoars the clouds, than the soul which Christ hath delivered. If we are no more under the law, but free from its curse, let our liberty be practically exhibited in our serving God with gratitude and delight. “I am Thy servant, and the son of Thine handmaid: Thou hast loosed my bonds” (Ps. 116:16). “Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?”

II. The Fruit of Freedom “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me” (John 15:4). How did you begin to bear fruit? It was when you came to Jesus and cast yourselves on His great atonement, and rested on His finished righteousness. Ah! What fruit you had then! Do you remember those early days? Then indeed the vine flourished, the tender grape appeared, the pomegranates budded forth, and the beds of spices gave forth their smell. Have you declined since then? If you have, we charge you to remember that time of love, and repent, and do your first works. Be most in those engagements which you have experimentally proved to draw you nearest to Christ, because it is from Him that all your fruits proceed. Any holy exercise which will bring you to Him will help you to bear fruit. The sun is, no doubt, a great worker in fruit-creating among the trees of the orchard: and Jesus is still more so among the trees of His garden of grace. When have you been the most fruitless? Has not it been when you have lived farthest from the Lord Jesus Christ, when you have slackened in prayer, when you have departed from the simplicity of your faith, when your graces have engrossed your attention instead of your Lord, when you have said, “My mountain stands firm, I shall never be moved”; and have forgotten where your strength dwells— has not it been then that your fruit has ceased? Some of us have been taught that we have nothing out of Christ, by terrible abasements of heart before the Lord; and when we have seen the utter barrenness and death of all creature power, we have cried in anguish, “From Him all my fruit must be found, for no fruit can ever come from me.” We are taught by past experience that the more simply we depend upon the grace of God in Christ, and wait upon the Holy Spirit, the more we shall bring forth fruit unto God. Oh! To trust Jesus for fruit as well as for life.

III. The Praise of Freedom “For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen” (Rom. 11:36). “To whom be glory for ever.” This should be the single desire of the Christian. All other wishes must be subservient and tributary to this one. The Christian may wish for prosperity in his business, but only so far as it may help him to promote this—“To Him be glory for ever.” He may desire to attain more gifts and more graces, but it should only be that “To Him may be glory for ever.” You are not acting as you ought to do when you are moved by any other motive than a single eye to your Lord’s glory. As a Christian, you are “of God, and through God,” then live “to God.” Let nothing ever set your heart beating so mightily as love to Him. Let this ambition fire your soul; be this the foundation of every enterprise upon which you enter, and this your sustaining motive whenever your zeal would grow chill; make God your only object. Depend upon it, where self begins sorrow begins; but if God be my supreme delight and only object, “To me ‘tis equal whether love ordain my life or death—appoint me ease or pain.” Let your desire for God’s glory be a growing desire. You blessed Him in your youth, do not be content with such praises as you gave Him then. Has God prospered you in business? Give Him more as He has given you more. Has God given you experience? Praise Him by stronger faith than you exercised at first. Does your knowledge grow? Then sing more sweetly. Do you enjoy happier times than you once had? Have you been restored from sickness, and has your sorrow been turned into peace and joy? Then give Him more music; put more coals and more sweet frankincense into the censer of your praise. Practically in your life give Him honor, putting the “Amen” to this doxology to your great and gracious Lord, by your own individual service and increasing holiness.

From Morning and Evening

Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892), “the Prince of Preachers,” was a renowned pastor and author who served as pastor of London’s Metropolitan Tabernacle for 38 years. His works are still widely read today. ______Exegetically Speaking by Spiros Zodhiates

The Faithful and Unfaithful Servants Matthew 24:45-51

From Exegetical Commentary on Matthew, 2006, AMG Publishers

[45] This parable follows naturally from the previous teaching. Christ’s Second Coming will be like God’s coming in judgment in the days of Noah. A catastrophic separation will occur between the righteous and the wicked. It will come suddenly; no one knows the day or the hour, and therefore the appropriate response is to watch constantly. The “evil servant” who expects his lord to delay his return (v. 48) and does not watch for him is cut off when the master returns, just as unbelievers will be cut off when Christ returns as a thief in the night to gather His own. The “faithful and wise servant,” on the other hand, waits for his master with eager anticipation (vv. 45- 46). The first point of interest for us here and in the Synoptic section of Luke 12:41– 48 is the meaning of the word translated “servant.” The Greek word doúlos (1401) has the distinct meaning of slave. It is associated with the verb doulóō (1402), which means to bring into bondage. By definition, slaves are subjugated and forced into a state of slavery. In the spiritual realm, the human will is enslaved or addicted to sin. In the New Testament, unbelievers are called slaves or servants of sin (Rom. 6:16- 17, 20). When Christ saves us, he liberates us from sin (John 8:33–36). Paul explains this great truth: “But now you, having been freed (eleutherōthéntes, the aorist passive participle of eleutheróō [1659]; i.e., by God) from sin, and having been enslaved (doulōthéntes, the aorist passive participle of doulóō [1402], i.e., by God) to God…” (Rom. 6:22; a.t.). Paul also calls believers slaves of righteousness in Romans 6:18. The aorist passive of the two verbs (“enslave” and “free”) means that God does the actions, enslaving us to His righteousness and taking away our addiction to sin by making us “free from sin.” Paul considered himself a slave of Jesus Christ (Rom. 1:1; Titus 1:1, etc.) and remarked that “yielding” does not cause slavery but is rather defined by slavery: “Do you not know that to whom you yield yourselves slaves to obey, his slaves you are (i.e., not ‘have become’) to whom you obey; whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness?” (Rom. 6:16; a.t.). We don’t yield ourselves to be or to become slaves. We yield ourselves as slaves because we are slaves, and we are the slaves of someone or something, not ourselves. If a master enslaves us, we are not free from that master. We can be nothing else but his slaves. The idea of being our own slaves is contradictory. A willing slave is a rational coupling of terms; a free slave is a contradiction. Before slavery was eliminated in the United States, people yielded themselves as slaves, but they did not yield themselves to be or to become slaves. They did not yield themselves to enter the institution of slavery, nor were they free to leave it once sold into it. The slave master, not the slaves, determined both the quantity and the quality of slavery. However much slaves desired to flee the farm, they made themselves get up in the morning and work; but this can hardly be called free will. Sin enslaves people because it is addictive: “For God imprisoned (from sugkleíō [4788]) all unto (eis [1519], unto, i.e., the end of) disobedience that He might have mercy upon all” (Rom. 11:32; a.t.). When in mercy Jesus Christ saves sinners, He does two things: He lifts the burden of sin—guilt and its paralysis—and He frees people, the sinners, from the power of sin. The two elements are parts of salvation. The first is called áphesis ([859]; Heb. 9:22, remission, pardon); and the second is called athétēsis (115), as the King James Version translators render it in Hebrews 9:26, the power “to put away” sin. Both are the result of the power of Christ’s blood shed on Calvary’s cross. We can learn much from the “author and finisher of our faith” (Heb. 12:2) who willingly took the “form (from morphē [3444]) of a slave (from doúlos)” (Phil. 2:7; a.t.). While the incarnation, ministry, and cross were all foreordained (Luke 22:22; Acts 2:23; 4:28; 1 Pet. 1:20; Rev. 13:8), Christ voluntarily entered this slavery of obedience to death (Phil. 2:8). “For I came down from heaven (i.e., voluntarily), not to do mine own will (therefore, His human doing and willing were not free of but according to the plan of the triune God), but the (determinate) will of Him that sent me” (John 6:38, cf. Luke 22:42; John 5:19; 1 Pet. 1:20; Rev. 13:8). The language could not be stronger: Jesus’ human willing and doing were not “[His] own”; they were determined to be the same as the good willing and doing of His Father. Thus, He could say, “do always (pántote [3842]) those things that please him” (John 8:29). There was never a time when Jesus’ human will or actions were free from or contradictory to the Father’s plan. Jesus contrasted the “faithful” (pistós [4103]) and “prudent” (phrónimos [5429]) slave here with the “bad” (kakós [2556]) one in verse 48. The faithful (pistós) servant has the faith (pístis [4102]) to believe that Jesus told the truth about God and about His own Person and work. One of the fullest definitions of this mental content of faith is found in Hebrews 11:1 where faith is called the “…substance (hupóstasis [5287] from húpō [5259], under; and hístēmi [2476], to stand; “that which stands below,” i.e., the foundation) of things hoped for (from elpízō [1679], to hope), the evidence (élegchos [1650], proof) of things not seen (from blépō [991], to see physically). Notice that the evidence is not seen physically. “Faithful” is not just a quality of mental cognition; it is also a quality of volition, namely, unreserved loyalty and trustworthiness. In Matthew 25:23, when the lord of the parable commended his servant at the judgment, among other things he said, “Thou hast been faithful (pistós) over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things.” Here, pistós with “over” is not commitment to doctrine but rather loyal rule over the talents and other physical and spiritual possessions given by the master. The prudent (phrónimos) servant applies moral brakes (phrēn in modern Greek) when things get out of control or head toward some dangerous situation—in this case, sin, which is always downhill. He uses the wisdom God gave him to think with the “mind (coherent thoughts) of Christ” (1 Cor. 2:16) rather than with the “wisdom of this world” (1 Cor. 1:20), the natural person (1 Cor. 1:26), and the devil (James 3:15)— all of which God Himself “made foolish” (from mōraínō [3471]; 1 Cor. 1:20). God grants true wisdom to people because, as both Paul and Jude say, our God is “the only (from mónos [3441], alone, singly) wise (from sophós [4680]) God” (see Jude 1:25; Rom. 16:27). We are told that the master delegated rule to this servant. He is “…given charge (from kathístēmi [2525] from katá [2596], according to; and hístēmi [2476], to stand, establish) over (epí [1909], upon) his household to the care (therapeías, the genitive of therapeía [2322], compassionate care) of them by giving (from dídōmi [1325], to give) them food at the right time (from kairós [2540], proper season)” (v. 45; a.t.). Instead of “care” (from therapeía), the United Bible Society’s and Nestle’s texts read “domestic affairs” (from oiketeía [3610] —a type of care appropriately qualified by the context). The faithful and prudent servant carefully attends to the domestic affairs of his household and thus is ready for the coming of his lord at any time. He not only meets schedules but, according to Luke 12:42, he gives proper portions of food (sitométrion [4620] from sítos [4621], wheat; and métron [3358], measure). This is not restricted to food alone but no doubt extends to all physical and spiritual needs of the household. [46] A further simile of the faithful and prudent servant of Jesus Christ is given in the term makários ([3107], blessed)—the beatitude word that means to be indwelt by God and thereby fully satisfied. “Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh (elthōn, the aorist participle of érchomai [2064]; cf. Luke 12:43) shall find so doing.” The aorist tense here underscores Christ’s appearance at any instant. We believers who are truly blessed should serve the Lord with faith and prudence every waking moment of our lives so that when Christ does appear suddenly, we will be “caught” “doing” (from poiéō [4160], “continually doing”) the right thing. [47] The master rewards the faithful and prudent servant with extensive sovereignty over his kingdom: “Verily (amēn [281], truly) I say unto you, that over (epí [1909], upon) all things of his possessions (hupárchousin, the neuter plural dative present active participle of hupárchō [5225], to be, belong to), he will establish (from kathístēmi [2525]) him” (a.t.). The master will entrust those who prove worthy in small things with greater authority (Luke 16:10; 19:17) as well as his possessions. [48-49] The adversative “but” (dé [1161]) introduces another servant who contrasts vividly with “the faithful and prudent one”: “But if that evil (kakós [2556]) servant shall say in his heart, My lord delays (chronízei, the present tense of chronízō [5549] associated with the noun chrónos [5550], a space of time) his coming (eltheín [TR, MT], the aorist infinitive of érchomai [2064]; in the analogy, the aorist refers to the crisis of the Second Coming of the Lord) and shall begin to beat (túptein, the present infinitive of túptō [5180], to strike or beat) his fellow servants and to eat (from esthíō [2068]) and to drink (from pínō [4095]) with the drunken (from methúō [3184], to drink to excess)…” (a.t.). The evil of the servant is twofold. The first is internal—a belief with a bad attitude: My lord is taking his time—procrastinating! This, of course, is false, and it brings to light this servant’s faithlessness against the faithfulness of the other servant. The second is external—two actions that issue from this bad attitude and belief: He beats his fellow servants and gets drunk with other drunkards, his new associates. The evil servant’s “unwise” mind contrasts with the “prudent” (phrónimos) mind of the other servant. True believers in Christ do not have these beliefs, attitudes, or actions. They believe their Lord’s coming is imminent because that is what He taught, and He always spoke the truth. Interestingly, Jesus connected a denial of the imminence of His Second Coming with bad attitudes and actions. The evil servant’s use of chronízei carries a sarcastic tone. It’s not a neutral but an attitudinal statement that implies his lord’s procrastination and an excuse to behave irresponsibly. Logic does not follow. Even if the lord does delay, it does not mean his servants are not accountable. What makes the man think that he will not be held accountable for beating his fellows (peers)? The irrational postulate is this: “If I am not punished right away, then I won’t be punished.” Or, to put it another away, “If my lord delays his return, then he doesn’t care what I do.” Both assumptions are absurd, yet most people act as if God will overlook the evil details of their lives. A minor textual variant occurs here, but the thought is the same. Some manuscripts (followed by the KJV) have present participles for “to eat” and “to drink,” following the present participle for “to smite”: “He shall begin to be smiting his fellow servants and to be eating and drinking with the drunken.” Other manuscripts have the present subjunctive for “to eat” and “to drink”: “He shall begin to be smiting his fellow servants, and he shall be eating and drinking with the drunken.” Notice that in both readings, a pattern of excess—gluttony and drunkenness—emerges after the servant abuses his fellow servants. [50] The master of the evil servant returns suddenly without warning: “The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he does not look (from prosdokáō [4328], to expect) for him, and in an hour that he does not know (from ginōskō [1097], to experientially know)” (a.t.). It is evident that the hypocrite, described here as an example of those who confess Christ with their mouths but accuse Him of delay in their hearts, are unbelievers and behave accordingly. They do not really expect (prosdokáō) Christ’s Second Coming at any time. The text does not say that such evil servants do not look at all for the master’s return; in fact, the wording, “in a day when [they] look not for him,” implies that they were looking on other days. It was a good start with slow deterioration. At first they look every day; but then as time passes, they look intermittently, then finally not at all. The day they give up is the day they begin to beat their fellow servants. Christ will pounce as a thief in the night on those who live in darkness like this (vv. 43-44, 50-51; 1 Thess. 5:2, 4; 2 Pet. 3:10; Rev. 3:3; 16:15). We should take warning to persevere in faith and holiness while remembering Paul’s encouraging words: “Ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief” (1 Thess. 5:4). The Lord will not come as a thief on those who continually watch for Him. Much to the contrary, we believers should “eagerly look forward to” (prosdéchomai [4327]) “the blessed hope” (Titus 2:13; a.t.) and “wait with anticipation for” (anaménō [362]) the return of Christ (1 Thess. 1:10; a.t.). [51] The master will punish the evil servant at this unexpected return: “And shall cut him asunder (from dichotoméō [1371], to cut in two or in half, from dícha [n.f.], separately; and tomē [n.f.], a cut) and appoint his part (méros [3313]) with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping (klauthmós [2805], lamentation) and gnashing (brugmós [1030], grinding) of teeth” (a.t.). Only here and in Luke 12:46 do we find this interesting verb, dichotoméō, from which comes our English word “dichotomy.” Evil servants who claim to be Christians and perhaps even think they are Christians will be cut in pieces and assigned to hell with other unbelievers, the destiny of all hypocrites. The parallel passage in Luke has additional material (Luke 12:47, 48) that indicates that those who profess Christ without possessing Christ will receive greater punishment than those who know nothing about God’s will for their lives: “And that servant, which knew (from ginōskō [1097], to know by experience) his lord’s will (thélēma [2307], determinative will, the -ma suffix viewing it as a product), and prepared (from hetoimázō [2090], to prepare) not himself, neither (mēdé [3366] from mē [3361]; and dé [1161]) did (from poiéō [4160]) according to his will, shall be beaten (from dérō [1194]) with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy (from áxios [514]) of stripes (from plēgē [4127], stripe), shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.” Degrees of punishment correlate with degrees of experiential knowledge. Those who know their Lord’s will and do not do it will be punished more severely than those who do not know His will and do not do it. The more light given to us, the more accountable we are.

Spiros Zodhiates (1922-2009) served as president of AMG International for over 40 years, was the founding editor of Pulpit Helps Magazine (Disciple’s predecessor), and authored dozens of exegetical books. ______Following God by Wayne Barber

God’s Love Guaranteed

Life has a way of disappointing us when things don’t happen the way we would have chosen. The way we respond tells a lot about whether or not we recognize that God loves us even in the midst of the pain life can bring. Our grandson Jonathan was having a bad day a few years ago. Things didn’t go his way. He immediately embraced an attitude that communicated that he didn’t like this one bit. He had been taking piano lessons, so he stomped back to the room where the old upright piano was and sat down and pounded out in anger the tune to “Oh, How I Love Jesus”. I have to smile as I think of how we as adults respond so often to the unannounced and unpleasant circumstances that life can sometimes bring our way. God doesn’t always let us in on what He is doing in our lives, and, admittedly, life can throw some curve balls at us that knock us off our feet. This can cause us to sometimes believe that God no longer loves us. But I encourage you, never make the mistake of thinking that God has stopped loving you just because you are going through the pain of the moment. There is a verse in Deuteronomy that has intrigued me. Deuteronomy 29:29 says “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law.” Even though the context is to Israel, those of us in the New Covenant should learn to stand on those things that God has revealed to us and pass them on to our children and not be distracted by those things that God chooses to keep to Himself. We need to be encouraged because God’s Word in Romans 8 tells us that, as believers, nothing shall ever separate us from the love of Christ. In fact, God lovingly orchestrates life to work for us to accomplish His purposes in our lives. This is what Paul has been saying all through Romans 8. Romans 8:30 clearly shows that we are secure in His love all the way through. “And these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.” We have not experienced this glorification yet, but God sees it as done! We are eternally bound to Him. Being a believer does not spare us from tough times, and it is in the midst of these tough times that He promises not to forsake us, as Paul says: “Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written, ‘For your sake we are being put to death all day long; we were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.’ But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us” (Rom. 8:35-37). Paul here goes on to tell us that God’s love is guaranteed in the midst of tough times: “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:38-39). Paul leaves nothing out as he sums up what he has been saying in this passage. No one and nothing can separate us from the Love of Christ. “Neither death nor life”— He loves us on both sides of the grave. “Nor angels, nor principalities”—neither helpful nor hostile angels can separate us from His love. “Nor things present, nor things to come”—we don’t fear the present and anything it brings, nor do we fear what the future holds, because nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. “Nor powers”—no force of any kind can separate us from His love. “Nor height, nor depth”—there is no space that can separate us. “Nor any other created thing”—don’t miss this; even we ourselves cannot even remove ourselves from His love! We are not spared from tough times, but neither are we forsaken in tough times; in fact, we are guaranteed god’s love. So if you ever feel far away from God and His love, you must ask yourself, who moved? Look up, brother—nothing can separate you from the love of Christ.

Wayne Barber is senior pastor of Woodland Park Baptist Church in Chattanooga, Tennessee. ______Words to Stand You on Your Feet by Joe McKeever

The Fruit of the Spirit Is: Goodness

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law” (Gal. 5:22-23). God will make you good. Or at least “gooder” than you are now. Looking at me, you might want to argue with that. After all, you don’t see a lot of goodness in me. My responses are: a) You should have seen me before, and b) you ought to know what I would have been without Him. Here is what I have learned about goodness through more than a half-century of living as a Christian: 1) Jesus is good. God is good. 2) I’m not, and you are not either. 3) The sanctification process—that growth into Christ-likeness which the Holy Spirit initiates in every believer’s life from the moment of spiritual birth and continues until the nanosecond of our actual glorification— involves making us good. 4) You are not the judge of whatever goodness the Lord has managed to perfect in you to this point. Goodness seems to be like humility in this aspect, that the bearer has little idea of what extent he/she has attained this trait. 5) Therefore, there is a sense in which you can regain your “virginity”. Do I have your attention? Then, let’s go back and work our way through these concepts.

I. Only God Is Good Jesus said that. To the inquiring young man of the quick compliment, our Lord said, “Why do you call me good? No one is good, but One, God” (Mark 10:18). Had the young gentleman answered, “I know that, and you are God,” I’m confident Jesus would have uttered amazement for his spiritual perception and complimented him on his insight. The children’s prayer that goes, “God is great, God is good…” is on target. Both are profound and bedrock features of our Heavenly Father. Nowhere is it written that the Great God who created this universe and peopled it with us was required to be “good” also. So, you might say we lucked out here. We ended up with the best of all possible Gods. We got the Good God.

II. I Am Not Good, and Neither Are You My heart is a rebel. And so is yours. “…it is not in man who walks to direct his own steps” (Jer. 10:23). “The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked…” (Jer. 17:9). “There is none righteous, no, not one” (Rom. 3:10). “For all have sinned” (Rom. 3:23), and given half a chance, will do so again. And furthermore, to paraphrase one of the Lord’s chosen from olden days, we’ve not gotten good since the Lord has started dealing with us either—a reference to Moses on Horeb: “O my Lord, I am not eloquent— neither before nor since you began speaking to your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue” (Exodus 4:10). This is a point worth making. Unfortunately, there are among us Christians who think that salvation has somehow made them good. And that’s not good. Salvation—and all the multi- splendored aspects of this work of God in our lives—makes us righteous in God’s sight by giving us the righteousness of Christ, but it doesn’t make us good in and of ourselves. It gives us the capacity to begin becoming like Jesus, but not in this lifetime can it ever be said of us that we are good in the same sense that God is. I have a dear friend who is learning to overcome his alcohol addiction through AA. Recently, he received his 90 day award. During that period, I think he attended 99 meetings of various chapters of Alcoholics Anonymous. He is well on his way to victory, but—and this is the point he will keep learning over and over again—he will never be free of the temptation in this life. The day my friend believes he has finally overcome the addiction and is free to (ahem) take the occasional drink for relaxation, he’s sunk. Sin is like that. That’s why the Lord’s churches could well be called local chapters of “Sinners Anonymous”, except we are not anonymous. Other than that, we have the same addiction, fight the same cravings, struggle with identical temptations, do the same rationalizations and justifications, and have found the same Source of help. If you find yourself in a church that either denies this or ignores it, get out quick. As a sin- addict, the last thing you need is to surround yourself with rationalizers and justifiers.

III. The Lord Is Busy at Every Moment Working in Us to Make Us Better “The Lord said to Moses, ‘…you have found favor in My sight and I have known you by name.’” Knowing an opportunity when he saw one, Moses said, “I pray You, show me Your glory!” (Ex. 33:17-18). Moses was asking for more than he knew. This little man—this puny human— could no more take in all the glory of the Eternal God and survive the experience than a housefly could stand about a half-mile from the sun and enjoy its glow. So the Lord said to him, “I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you…” (Ex. 33:19). The way I get this, the Lord is saying to Moses, “I will reveal to you one part of my glory: my goodness.” So—you know the story—the Lord hid the man in the cleft of the rock and passed by. Moses heard the Creator’s voice calling out, “The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations” (Exodus 34:6- 7). God is good. He is patient to a fault (so to speak). He extends forbearance to wrong-doers, forgiveness to penitents, and mercy to whom He chooses. And, as a part of His goodness He punishes wrongdoers. That last line—visiting the parents’ sins down the line—we will save for another discussion. God is like that, and He is making us like Himself. “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit” (2 Cor. 3:18). We are becoming like Jesus.

IV. We Are Not Aware of Goodness within Us, Even when Manifesting It Beautifully Instead, we tend to see how much farther we still have to go to attain the full measure of Christ-likeness. I’m struggling with how to say this—the closer we get to Jesus, the more imperfections we see within ourselves, not because we become more sinful, but because we see better. The more Christ-like we are, the less we will believe it of ourselves. I think that’s right. I said to Marguerite Briscoe, the 75- year-old saintly retired school principal in our church who went about ministering to people and interceding for their needs, “Marguerite, you are the godliest person I know.” “Oh, honey,” she said, “If you just knew.” I do know. I know that Christ-likeness within the believer is akin to the glow from Moses when he descended from Sinai, which Paul addresses in 2 Corinthians 3. Others saw it in him; he was not aware of it himself. The day I start believing I am “pretty good” or even “very good,” I am in the same kind of trouble as my alcohol-addicted friend when he starts believing himself to be free of that awful lord. I know. I know that others will see Christ-likeness in me if I am living close to Jesus, particularly for a long period. “A long obedience in the same direction” is how Eugene Peterson expresses it. I know that if someone compliments me for being Christ- like or even “good,” I will not take that to heart. I will respond to their words with kindness, but I will not believe it, for—like my friend Marguerite—I know better. I know how much further I still have to go.

V. Someday, I Will Be Like Jesus When that happens, watch out! Nothing in our earthly existence even begins to prepare us for what this will be like. “We shall be like Him. For we shall see Him as He is” (1 John 3:2). This is a reference to the moment Scripture writers call “glorification.” We are changed—in one incredible instant we go from being human to divine, from physical to something far superior, from mortal to immortal, from weakness to power, from lowly to glorious (my pitiful attempt to rephrase 1 Cor. 15:42-44). The Rahabs among us will leave behind the awful memories of moral failures and be made beautiful, pure virgins. The murderous Davids among us will once more be as innocent as children. The lying, denying Simon Peters among us will be as though they had never lied or failed. As for me, I will no longer struggle with impure thoughts, pleasure cravings, and self-centered ambitions that have fought me every step of the way on this long journey to goodness. Sometimes, when feeling particularly unworthy, immature, and inadequate, I think that the Apostle Paul might have had similar struggles that caused him to long for the day of goodness and to cry out, “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (Rom.7:24) Paul knew the answer, of course. As do we. God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! Amen. Thank you, Lord.

Joe McKeever is a retired Southern Baptist pastor from New Orleans, Louisiana. He blogs regularly at www.joemckeever.com. ______Jewels from Past Giants

The Divine Summons: Abraham’s Call By F. B. Meyer

Editor’s Note: The following is an excerpt from Meyer’s 1890 book, Abraham, Or the Obedience of Faith, as reprinted in AMG Publishers’ 1995 collection Patriarchs of the Faith. Edited slightly for modern spellings. “Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed” (Gen. 12:1-3). While Abraham was living quietly in Ur, protesting against the idolatry of his times, with all its attendant evils, and, according to tradition, suffering bitter persecution for conscience sake, “The God of glory appeared unto him, and said, ‘Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and come into the land which I shall show thee’” (Acts 7:2-3). This was the first of those marvelous appearances which anticipated the Incarnation; and marked the successive stages of God’s manifestation of Himself to men. When this Divine appearance came we do not know. It may have been in the still and solemn night, or in the evening hour of meditation, or amid the duties of his position, but suddenly there shone from heaven a great light round about him, and a visible form appeared in the heart of the glory, and a voice spoke the message of heaven in his ear. Not thus does God now appear to us, and yet it is certain that He still speaks in the silence of the waiting spirit, impressively His will, and say “Get thee out.” Listen for that voice in the inner shrine of your heart. This same voice has often spoken since. It called Elijah from Thisbe, Amos from Tekoa, Peter from his fishing nets, Matthew from his toll booth, Cromwell from his farm in Huntingdon, and Luther from his cloister at Erfurt. It ever sounds the perpetual summons of God, “Come out from her, My people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues”; “‘Come out from among them, and be ye separate,’ saith the Lord, ‘and touch not the unclean thing’.” Has it not come to you? Strange, if it has not. Yet, if it has, let nothing hinder your obedience; strike your tents, and follow where the God of glory beckons; and in that word come, understand that He is moving on in front, and that if you would have His companionship, we must follow.

I. This Call Involved Hardship He was a childless man. He had sufficient for the supply of his needs. He was deeply attached to those who were united to him by the close ties of a common nature. It was no small matter for him to break up his camp, to tear himself from his nearest and dearest, and to start for a land which, as yet, he did not know. And so must it always be. The summons of God will ever involve a wrench from much that nature holds dear. We must be prepared to take up our cross daily if we would follow where He points the way. Each step of real advance in the divine life will involve an altar on which some dear fragment of the self life has been offered; or a cairn beneath which some cherished idol has been buried. It is true that the blessedness which awaits us will more than compensate us for the sacrifices which we may have to make. And the prospect of the future may well allure us forward, but still, when it comes to the point, there is certain anguish as the last link is broken, the last farewell said, and the last look taken of the receding home of past happy years. And this is God’s winnowing fan, which clearly separates chaff and wheat. Many cannot endure a test so severe and searching in its demands. Like Pliable, they get out of the slough by the side nearest to their home. Like the young man, they go away sorrowful from the One to whom they had come with haste. Shall this be the case with you? Will you hear the call of God and shrink back from its cost? Count the cost clearly indeed, but, having done so, go forward in the name and by the strength of Him in whom all things are possible and easy and safe. And in doing so, you will approve yourself worthy to stand with Christ in the regeneration. Nothing is clearer than that, in these critical days, God is summoning the whole Church to a great advance, not only in knowledge, and in spiritual experience, but also in the evangelization of the world. Blessed are they who are privileged to have a share in this sublime campaign!

II. This Call Was Eminently Wise It was wise for Abraham himself. Nothing strengthens us so much as isolation and transplantation. Let a young man emigrate, or be put into a responsible position; let him be thrown on his own resources and he will develop powers of which there would have been no trace if he had always lived at home, dependent on others and surrounded by luxury. Under the wholesome demand his soul will put forth all her native vigor. But what is true of the natural qualities of the soul is preeminently true of faith. So long as we are quietly at rest amid favorable and undisturbed surroundings, faith sleeps as an undeveloped sinew within us: a thread, a germ, an idea. But when we are pushed out from all these surroundings, with nothing but God to look to, then faith grows suddenly into a cable, a monarch oak, a master principle of the life. As long as the bird lingers by the nest, it will not know the luxury of flight. As long as the trembling boy holds to the bank, or toes the bottom, he will not learn the ecstasy of battling with the ocean wave. As long as men cling to the material, they cannot appreciate the reality of the promises of God. Abram could never have become Abraham, the father of the faithful, the mighty exemplar of faith, if he had always lived in Ur. No; he must quit his happy home, and journey forth into the untried and unknown, that faith may rise up to all its glorious proportions in his soul. It may not be necessary for us to withdraw from home and friends, but we shall have to withdraw our heart’s deepest dependence from all props and supports, if ever we are to learn what it is to trust simply and absolutely on the eternal God. It may be that He is breaking away just now the shores on which we have been leaning that the ship may glide down upon the ocean wave. It was wise for the world’s sake. On this one man rested the hope for the future of the world. Had he remained in Ur, it is impossible to say whether he would have continued true; or whether he might not have been seriously infected by the idolatry around. Or, even if he had been enabled to resist the adverse influences, his family, and, above all, his children, might have failed beneath the terrible ordeal. Was it not, therefore, wise for the world’s sake, and for the sake of God’s purposes, that he should be taken right away from his home and early associations, to find a fresh religious starting point for the race, on new soil, and under new conditions? Was it not thus that, in days of abounding vice and superstition, God led the Pilgrim Fathers to cross the seas and found a new world, on the inhospitable shores of New England? And has it not been the plan of His government in all ages? It is impossible to move our times, so long as we live beneath their spell, but when once we have risen up, and gone, at the call of God, outside their pale, we are able to react on them with an irresistible power. Archimedes vaunted that he could lift the world, if only he could obtain, outside of it, a pivot on which to rest his lever. Do not be surprised then, if God calls you out to be a people to Himself, that by you He may react with blessed power on the great world of men. Sometimes, indeed, He bids us stay where we are, to glorify Him there. But more often He bids us leave unhallowed companionships, irreligious associations, evil fellowships and partnerships, and at great cost to get ourselves away into the isolation of a land which He promises to reveal.

III. This Call Was Accompanied by Promise God’s commands are not always accompanied by reasons, but always by promises, expressed or understood. To give reasons would excite discussion, but to give a promise shows that the reason, though hidden, is all-sufficient. We can understand the promise, though the reason might baffle and confuse us. The reason is intellectual, metaphysical, spiritual, but a promise is practical, positive, literal. As a shell encloses a kernel, so do the Divine commands hide promises in their heart. If this is the command: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ”; this is the promise: ‘‘And thou shalt be saved.” If this is the command: “Sell that thou hast and give to the poor”; this is the promise: “Thou shalt have treasure in heaven.” If this is the command: “Leave father and mother, houses and land”; this is the promise: “Thou shalt have a hundredfold here, and everlasting life beyond.” If this is the command: “Be ye separate”; this is the promise: “I will receive you and be a Father unto you.” So in this case: Though you are childless, I will make of you a great nation: though you are the youngest son, I will bless you, and make your name great: though you are to be torn from your own family, in you shall all the families of the earth be blessed. And each of those promises has been literally fulfilled. It may seem that the hardships involved in the summons to exile are too great to be borne; yet study well the promise which is attached. And as the “City which hath foundations” looms on the view, it will dwarf the proportions of the Ur in which you have been content to spend your days; and you will rise to be gone. Sometime, therefore, it seems easier not to dwell on the sacrifice involved, but on the contents of God’s gracious promise. Bid people take; and they will give up of themselves. Let men find in Jesus the living water, and, like the woman of Samaria, they will leave their waterpots. Fire the hearts of the young with all the beauty and blessedness of the service of Jesus; and they will not find it so hard to leave nets, and fishing boats, and friends, to forsake all and follow Him. “When it pleased God to reveal His Son in me… immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood.” St. Francis de Sales used to say, “When the house is on fire, men are ready to throw everything out of the window; and when the heart is full of God’s true love, men are sure to count all else but worthless.”

IV. This Call Teaches Us the Meaning of Election Everywhere we find beings and things more loftily endowed than others of the same kind. This is markedly evident in the religious sphere. And there is at first a jarring wonder at the apparent inequality of God’s arrangements until we understand that the superior endowment of the few is intended to enable them the better to help and bless the rest. “I will bless thee, and thou shalt be a blessing.” A great thinker feels that his end is approaching; he has made grand discoveries, but he has not as yet given them to the world. He selects one of his most promising pupils, and carefully indoctrinates him with his system; he is very severe on any inaccuracies and mistakes; he is very careful to give line on line. Why does he take all this care? For the sake of the young man? Not exclusively for the pupil’s benefit, but that he may be able to give to the world those thoughts which his dying master has confided to his care. The young disciple is blessed that he may pass the blessings on to others. Is not this a glimpse into the intention of God, in selecting Abraham, and in him the whole family of Israel? It was not so much with a view to their personal salvation, though that was included, but that they might pass on the holy teachings and oracles with which they were entrusted. It would have been worse than useless to have given such jewels directly to mankind. As well put a gorgeous banquet before a hungry babe. To say the least, there was no language ready in which to enshrine the scared thoughts of God. The genius of truth required that the minds of men should be prepared to apprehend its sacred lessons. It was needful that definitions and methods of expression should be first well learned by the people, who, when they had learned them, might become the teachers of mankind. The deep question is, whether election has not much more to do with our ministry than with our personal salvation. It brings less of rest, and peace, and joy, than it does of anguish, bitterness, and sorrow of heart. There is no need to envy God’s elect ones. They are the exiles, the cross bearers, the martyrs among men, but careless of themselves, they are all the while learning God’s deepest lessons, away from the ordinary haunts of men; and they return to them presently with discoveries that pass all human thought, and are invaluable for human life.

V. This Call Gives the Key to Abraham’s Life It rang a clarion note at the very outset, which continued to vibrate through all his later history. The key to Abraham’s life is the word “separation.” He was from first to last a separated man. Separated from his fatherland and kinsfolk; separated from Lot; separated, as a pilgrim and stranger, from the people of the land; separated from his own methods of securing a fulfillment of the promises of God; separated from the rest of mankind by special sorrows, which brought him into closer fellowship with God than has ever been reached by man; separated to high and lofty fellowship in thoughts and plans, which God could not hide from him. VI. But It Was the Separation of Faith There is a form of separation known among men, in which the lonely soul goes apart, to secure uninterrupted leisure for devotion; spending the slow-passing hours in vigil, fasting, and prayer; hoping to win salvation as the guerdon of its austerities. This is not the separation to which God called Abraham, or to which we are summoned. Abraham’s separation is not like that of those who wish to be saved, but rather that of those who are saved. Not towards the Cross, but from it. Not to merit anything, but, because the heart has seen the vision of God, and cannot now content itself with the things that once fascinated and entranced it; so that leaving them behind, it reaches out its hands in eager longing for eternal realities, and thus is led gradually and insensibly out and away from the seen to the unseen, and from the temporal to the eternal. May such separation be ours! May we catch God’s call, irradiated by the His promise! And as we hear of that fair land, of that glorious city, of those divine delights which wait us, may we leave and relinquish those lesser and injurious things which have held us too long, spoiling our peace and sapping our power; and striking our tents obey our God’s behest, though it may lead us whither we know not!

Frederick Brotherton Meyer (1847- 1929) was a Baptist pastor and evangelist in England and the United States. Born in London, he studied theology at Regent’s Park College, Oxford, and began pastoring churches in 1870. He was a close friend and associate of D. L. Moody, and made a profound impact on the faith of millions on both sides of the Atlantic through his preaching and writing. ______Marks of the Master by The Old Scot

Those Conniving Milkweeds

Originally Published in Pulpit Helps, April 2006.

Who could love a milkweed? Even its name seems to say it all: “milkweed.” That’s all it is—just another weed. Ah, but look again. The common milkweed is a trickster extraordinaire! While it shares in common with all plants—indeed, all life!—the need to reproduce itself, it does so by baiting a biological trap: It offers honey-sweet droplets of nectar to hungry insects, but exacts an unsuspected price from its guests. When a bee, for example, visits one of the down-turned flowers, it seeks a footing on the smooth surface of the flower’s center. Shortly, it finds such a footing on the base of one or more slits which run up the sides of the flower tube. The bee is then able to drink at its ease from the five little buckets of nectar which each flower offers. But when the bee raises its feet to fly away—this is the moment the milkweed demands payment. For when the insect’s leg is lifted, it comes into contact with sticky black discs at the top of the slits. The bee is caught. Now it can escape only by considerable effort—and when it does break free it carries away a spongy mass of pollen clinging to the discs. The bee completes payment for its dinner when it visits a flower from another milkweed plant, seeking more of the sweet nectar. Its pollen-laden foot slips into a convenient slit for anchorage, and the pollen mass is transferred to the flower’s sticky female receptacle. Thus the next generation of milkweeds is assured. However, not all of the insects which spring the milkweed trap are able to break free. In fact, most are not. Ants, small beetles, butterflies and wasps, and numerous varieties of flies lack the strength to free themselves. They can help neither themselves nor the milkweed, and both suffer as a result. The American naturalist Edwin Way Teale once counted 351 individual flowers on one milkweed plant, each with five pollen traps. Yet a later count of maturing seedpods showed only three on this plant, and just 32 in a stand of 121 plants on a hillside plot. This would seem to be a very poor return for the milkweed’s investment, but it is sufficient. Milkweeds are in no danger of extinction! The pods which mature release hundreds of seeds, which are carried near and far by gauzy parachutes of silken threads. Nevertheless, we may ask why the milkweed has chosen this method of reproduction. True, there is a benefit in allowing only the larger, stronger insects to escape from its trap, for these are the very insects which will not be satisfied with the nectar from a single flower. They will visit other flowers, and thus complete fertilization. Still, it is a very wasteful method. Even air- borne pollination, in which the grains of pollen are simply committed to the vagaries of the wind, usually results in a higher percentage of success. The fallacy in our question lies in the assumption that the milkweed “chose”—or evolved—this method of reproduction. The false theory of evolution demands that each life form continue perfecting reproductive patterns, as well as all other characteristics. If the milkweed had done this, doubtless the world would be overrun with milkweeds! Instead, this humble plant occupies just the niche meant for it in our world—which is not our world at all, but the world of the Master Designer who created it. The milkweed’s method of reproduction is also a control mechanism to keep it in balance with all other life. Throughout nature we see this balance. Plants and animals sometimes compete for the necessities of life, and sometimes cooperate in gaining them; but always according to a marvelous master plan laid down in the beginning by God. Only man seems to be an exception to this balance of nature, for he has done much in recent centuries to destroy the balance—often polluting what he does not root up, and laying waste forests which required hundreds of years to grow. Yet even this is foreseen in God’s master plan, for He created man in His own image and gave him dominion over the earth (see Gen. 1:26). In the beginning man walked with his Maker and his God in love and harmony, and man was in harmony with all of nature. But man fell. There is no need to retell the sorry tale: its evidence is everywhere around us, and in the hearts of all who are far from God. Man’s ultimate capacity is the capacity to self-destruct. But there is hope. God is still in charge, and the Bible assures us that in His own time He will restore the peace and harmony and fruitfulness which the world first enjoyed. Obviously, that time is not yet come. But we do not need to wait for it to restore our harmony with God and with ourselves. Our prayer is that all who see these words will both seek and find that peace with God. The Old Scot (Ted Kyle) lives in Newberg, Oregon, with his wife, Marga.

Source: Days Without Time, by Edwin Way Teale, Dodd, Mead & Co., 1948.

______Advancing the Ministries of the Gospel

Pastor Training: Finishing the Task By Justin Lonas

This column highlights the ministries of Disciple’s parent organization, Advancing the Ministries of the Gospel (AMG) International, a non-denominational missions agency. AMG International’s mission is to “make disciples around the world through national workers and in partnership with like- minded Christians” National workers are the hands and feet of AMG in the countries where we work; men and women reaching out to their own people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. AMG comes alongside these committed believers to enable them to serve in Christian ministry. At the heart of every AMG ministry outreach is a national worker. From medical doctors to school teachers to childcare workers to church planters, AMG’s national workers serve as faithful representatives of the Gospel in many walks of life. Many are mature believers who have accepted the call to lead and oversee AMG’s ministries in their home countries. National workers can provide tremendous Gospel witness in their culture for a fraction of the cost of a cross-cultural missionary. Because they know the language and the culture intimately, they can reach communities cross-cultural missionaries struggle with. National workers do not require visas and other tedious government paperwork, giving them more time and energy to focus on ministry. Because they are native to the areas where they minister, they do not have to be evacuated in times of crisis, giving them the ability to struggle alongside those they serve and continue proclaiming God’s love when it matters most. AMG’s national workers are especially crucial to the establishment and encouragement of local churches in their home cultures. Some of them are directly involved (church planters), but all of them contribute by active participation, leadership, discipleship, or training of pastors. In 2012, one of AMG’s desires is to increase our involvement in this area of pastor training. We have become convinced that the equipping of local pastors is a crucial step in fulfilling Christ’s commission to “make disciples of all nations…teaching them to observe all that I commanded you” (Matt. 28:19-20). By some estimates, 85% of churches in the world are led by individuals who have no formal training in ministry (David Livermore, Serving with Eyes Wide Open). To leave new believers without the tools to study God’s Word and grow in maturity is to leave the work of mission half-done. As this exchange (transcribed from a video put together for our website) between Reuben Musiime, AMG’s national director in Uganda, and local pastor Amos Sichempe of the Mulongo Baptist Church demonstrates, this is a tremendous need. Reuben: Where did you get your training for the pastorate? Amos: When I was called in 2002, I had no pastoral training at all. It was only when I started that I found myself being helped by the older members in the church. Reuben: So, pastoring a church with no training, what constraints have you experienced? Amos: It has been the very, very, very worst challenge, I believe. And it has been a very big challenge to me in particular. Reuben: How about training tools. Do you have any training tools for the church, for ministries? Amos: We have people. Reuben: But are they equipped to run and teach the church? Amos: They need training. We also need the tools—Bibles, we need them very much. Stories like this are common in most of the countries where AMG works. Wherever possible or practical, we try to reach out to men like Pastor Amos with training, Bibles and study tools, and encouragement in ministry. We have taken short-term teams of pastors and church leaders to some of our fields to do pastor-training seminars, as well as volunteers who have done longer-term training. Many of our nationals are directly involved in equipping pastors for ministry, and we even have a formal seminary in Indonesia. As part of this ministry focus, this February AMG is hosting the “Pastors 4 Pastors” Conference in our hometown of Chattanooga, Tennessee, to help call attention to this work and to the need for volunteers to go overseas to assist our national workers in training pastors. As important as such volunteers are, they need Bibles, concordances, and study tools to put in the hands of local pastors on the field. Additionally, the pastors who come to receive training have many needs for transportation, meals, housing, etc. As an organization, we are seeking partners from local churches to help provide vital training for pastors overseas and study resources for them. Will you pray with us for volunteers to go with AMG to train pastors and for local pastors in other countries to be receptive to that training? These partnerships help breathe new life into churches around the world, sharpening and strengthening the witness of the Gospel in cultures very much in need of transformation.

To learn more about the needs of pastor training or to register for the Pastors 4 Pastors conference, please visit www.amginternational.org/pastors4pastors.

Advancing the Ministries of the Gospel (AMG) International is a non- denominational, international missions agency based in Chattanooga, Tenn. AMG’s distinctive has always been its reliance on national workers to carry the Gospel in their own cultures. Today, they operate ministries in over 40 countries around the world through partnership with national believers.

Justin Lonas is editor of Disciple Magazine for AMG International in Chattanooga, Tenn. ______Book Review—1/9/2012

Editor’s Note: Each month, we try to review some of the best new books from Christian publishing houses. We do this both to keep you up to date on material being published today and to help authors of noteworthy books get the word out. Sometimes, however, we like to touch on classics of Christian literature that merit a fresh reminder. This issue’s venture down that road doesn’t go too far into the past, but this book has certainly established itself as a modern classic.

The Holiness of God, R. C. Sproul, 1985. Best recent reprint: (in a single-volume collection with Chosen by God and Pleasing God) 2010, Hendrickson Publishers, Peabody, Mass., 9781598564686, 600 pages, $24.95, hardcover.

The infinite, perfect God of the universe, He who created the heavens and the earth and sustains them by His Word, cannot abide sin. That this same God chooses to reveal Himself to sinful men in explicit terms and desires to be reconciled to them is the great mystery of theology and philosophy. R. C. Sproul’s meditation on this theme, The Holiness of God, remains one of the finest and most accessible discussions of the nature of God and the implications thereof for men. Sproul begins at the “back door” of the matter, sharing his own encounter with the mind-bending infinity of God in an undergraduate philosophy course. From there, he explores how our holy God reveals Himself through Scripture, focusing on the story of Isaiah, and then seeks to arrive at a working definition of “holy”. The meat of the book comes in the middle chapters, when Sproul engages what he calls the “trauma of holiness”—the impact of the complete “otherness” of God on sinful men when we realize His true nature. When we are confronted by God, all our pretense and self-righteousness are undone. Sproul shows that mankind cannot withstand God’s presence, and that sinful men will go to great lengths to avoid, hide, or destroy true holiness to assuage their guilt. He shares examples from Scripture (Jacob, Job, Habakkuk, Paul) of those who have contended with God (looking for justice in the temporal sense and forgetting their own finite sinfulness) and been shown mercy by surviving the experience. He relates the story of a more modern figure, Martin Luther, who wrestled with God for years until he realized that it was only through God’s grace that anyone can receive peace. Through these glimpses, Sproul beautifully sets up for readers the sheer magnitude of the work of Christ. God in His infinite holiness condescended to become man so that His justice could be satisfied through the infinite sacrifice of His Son. He shows that it is only when we see the magnitude of God’s holiness that we can see the depth of our depravity and fully recognize the necessity of such a sacrifice for our redemption. Sproul has more or less made a career out of studying and proclaiming God’s holiness, but it is a message that never loses its power. In this book, his observations are presented clearly and plainly, so that even the untrained reader comes away with a wealth of theological insight. He takes readers on a journey from discovery to discomfort to redemption to obedience, covering more ground in the process than many much longer books. For the enduring nature of its content and Sproul’s gift of prose, The Holiness of God continues to impact readers in a new generation and should continue to do so for years to come. The brightness of God makes the light of His glorious salvation shine forth like nothing else, and Sproul showcases that truth for us excellently.

Justin Lonas Type: Christian Philosophy/Theology Target: All Take: Must Read ______News Update—1/9/12

Anti-Christian Incidents Nearly Doubled in Indonesia in 2011 Acts of violence and intolerance against Christians in Indonesia almost doubled in 2011, with an Islamist campaign to close down churches symbolizing the plight of the religious minority, Compass Direct News reports. The Indonesian Protestant Church Union counted 54 acts of violence and other violations against Christians in 2011, up from 30 in 2010. The number of such incidents against religious minorities also grew, from 198 in 2010 to 276 in 2011, but the worst is perhaps yet to come if authorities continue to overlook the threat of Muslim extremism—at least 36 regulations to ban religious practices deemed deviant from Islam were drafted or implemented in the country in 2011. Religion Today Summaries

Cuba “Hungry For the Lord” A Mississippi pastor who recently traveled to teach pastors in Cuba—a country once closed to the American Christian church—says the Lord is very much at work there, OneNewsNow.com reports. “The most exciting thing was to see the movement of God in the people,” said the Rev. Terry Pierce. “Even though they’ve had such regulations…with the Gospel… people are hungry for the Lord.” Pierce emphasized that the church was still being monitored by the government, but said there was starting to be “a little bit of a loosening” and noted one pastor who had constructed a church from whatever materials he could find since there were no nearby home improvement stores to buy building supplies. Though the government has “no concrete formula” for “impos[ing] their rules and regulations at their whim,” that church has so far not faced any problems, Pierce said. Religion Today Summaries

Canada to Create Office of Religious Freedom Canada’s government is preparing to install an Office of Religious Freedom within the Department of Foreign Affairs, according to The Globe and Mail. The new office, a campaign promise by Canada’s Conservative Party, is expected to be fleshed out in early 2012. Conservative Party leaders say they are committed to making the defense of the right to worship a central objective of Canada’s foreign policy, noting that religious persecution has increased around the world in recent years. Their decision to create the office was solidified by the assassination of Pakistani religious freedom activist Shahbaz Bhatti, Pakistan’s first minister for minority affairs and the only Christian in the Islamic state’s cabinet. Bhatti was killed by militant Islamists just weeks after meeting with Canada’s prime minister, and Conservatives said they were impressed by his persistence in fighting religious intolerance amid death threats as well as deeply affected by the reality of such persecution. Religion Today Summaries

Nigeria Deploys Troops to Aid Christians, Experts Fear Civil War The Nigerian government has deployed troops to several cities in the northern part of the country after a series of deadly attacks from the Islamist militant group Boko Haram and threats toward Christians to flee the area, the Christian Post reports. Two platoons were sent to Plateau and Borno states to combat the increasing number of Boko Haram attacks, just days after Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency there. Officials are questioning the seriousness of the ultimatum Boko Haram gave Christians on Monday to leave the area within three days; Christian leaders have encouraged Christians to remain in the area, but many fear Boko Haram plans to bring its threats to reality. “The strategy by [Boko Haram] is to simply draw the larger Muslim and Christian population into a civil war,” said Shehu Sani, president of the Civil Rights Congress. Religion Today Summaries Explosive Growth of Christianity, Missions in Sub-Saharan Africa A new study by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life shows the largest growth in Christianity during the past 100 years has occurred in sub-Saharan African countries such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia and Nigeria, according to the Abilene Reporter-News. In 1910, just 1.4 percent of the world’s Christians lived in sub-Saharan Africa, but in 2010 that number had grown to 24 percent. And now, instead of Christianity being spread into African nations by missionaries, African converts are now the ones taking the message to the rest of the world. Many large churches in Europe are also now filled with African Christians who escaped persecution, said Larry Henderson of Abilene Christian University (ACU). “Europeans and North Americans are no longer in the driver’s seat [of world missions],” he said. “African Christian leaders have taken the ball and run with it,” said Wimon Walker of ACU. Religion Today Summaries

Christianity May Be Eradicated in Iraq and Afghanistan According to a chairman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, Christianity faces a legitimate threat of eradication in Iraq and Afghanistan because of severe and persistent persecution of Christians there, CNSNews.com reports. Despite long-term U.S. military operations to establish representative governments in those countries, Christian persecution has only escalated. “Unfortunately, that is sort of the pattern throughout the Middle Eastern region,” said USCIRF chairman Leonard Leo. “The flight of Christians out of the region is unprecedented and it’s increasing year by year. It’s a very, very alarming situation.” Religion Today Summaries

New North Korean Leader, Same Old Regime As North Korea held a farewell ceremony for Kim Jong Il on December 27, the country rallied around his son and successor, Kim Jong Un. However, according to a Voice of the Martyrs worker on the Korean peninsula, no significant changes appear likely for Christians there, at least not in the short term, Mission Network News reports. It is thought that Kim Jong Il was ill for some time, and it seems the people who kept things going on his behalf will continue to be in charge behind the scenes for Kim Jong Un, according to Todd Nettleton of Voice of the Martyrs USA. The reclusive nation claims to have freedom of religion, but in reality, there is no freedom to build churches or even worship in homes; owning a Bible or Christian material is illegal and punishable by death. Authorities have stepped up their surveillance of Christians in recent years, but an estimated 400,000 Christians continue to practice their faith in underground networks. Religion Today Summaries

______Sermon Helps from SermonHall.com

Sermon Outlines Lessons from the Life of Nehemiah I. Prayer: “So I prayed” (2:4). II. Purpose: “So I came” (2:11). III. Persistence: “So we built” (4:6, 10, 18, 21). IV. Perseverance: “So I cannot come down” (6:3). V. Perfection: “So the wall was finished” (6:15). VI. Power: “So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading” (8:8). Anonymous

Blessed Are the Peacemakers Matthew 5:9 Intro.: Historians say that, in the millennia of recorded world history, the world has only been mostly at peace 8% of the time or a total of 286 years, and some 8,000 treaties have been made and broken. Christ tells us “blessed are the peacemakers.” I. The Meaning of “Peacemaker” A. Biblically, peace carries the idea of total well-being of mind and heart and body. It is both relief from war and the possession of all that one needs for a full and satisfying life. B. A peacemaker is a conflict- resolver, a positive force for good. II. Peacemakers Are Those Whose Lives Demonstrate Peace A. At peace with God (Rom. 5:1; James 4:1-4). B. At peace with others (Rom. 14:19; 2 Cor. 13:11). C. At peace with themselves (Ps. 122:8; Prov. 3:1-2; Col. 3:15). III. Peacemaking Is the Ultimate Work of God in the World A. When the God of peace (Rom. 15:33) is with us, conflict is eliminated and all the positive blessings for life are ours. B. It is the God of peace who defeats Satan, the enemy (Rom. 16:20). C. The God of peace is with those who do His will (1 Thess. 5:23; Heb. 13:20-21). Conc.: We need to remember a few basics as we close: The source of peace is God; the enemies of peace are Satan and sin; making peace requires a tremendous faith. Bill Denton

Illustrations The Tragedy of Single Sins A Frankfort, Kentucky woman was the victim of a strange accident. She arose in the night to get a drink of water, and in drinking she also swallowed a small black spider that had dropped off of the faucet of her kitchen sink—into her drinking glass. She felt the spider going down her throat, but did not know what it was. In an hour or two she became nauseated, and ejected the spider, but not until it had bitten her internally. The poison from the bite soon spread through her system, and her condition became life-threatening. Her flesh puffed up in rolls and ridges, her ears swelled so tightly that the blood oozed through the skin, while her tongue swelled till she almost suffocated. Emergency Room physicians worked for several hours, administering all the antidotes known to medical science, and finally saved her life. The little spider that had such a venomous bite is not larger than a pea, and can roll itself up into a complete ball and float on the water like a piece of cork. So a single sin may poison the whole lifeblood of the moral nature. A single sinner in a circle of acquaintance may spread his moral pestilence through a score of hearts. Beware of the tragedy of single sins. Anonymous Transforming Grace A traveler describing an ancient volcano which he visited, tells of a cup-like hollow on the mountain summit full of lush vegetation, and that, where the fierce heat had once burned, lay a still, clear pool of water, looking up like an eye to the beautiful heavens above. How many a man, who before conversion was a fiery, death-dealing volcano of sin, has by the grace of Jesus become gentle and beautiful, reflecting in his measure the heavenly peace and loveliness. Anonymous

Bulletin Inserts On Leadership

Leadership functions on the basis of trust. When trust is gone, the leader soon will be. The Glen Rock Light A flaming ministry generates a flaming church; in like manner and by the same token, a cold-hearted clergyman begets a frozen congregation Robert L. Sumner

When D.L. Moody was asked how to revive a cold, dead church, he replied, “Build a big fire in the pulpit.” The Fountain

Not qualified to be in command over others is he who is not in command of himself. R. Whitson Seaman

False religious teachers are worse than murderers. They murder the souls for whom Christ died. Charles Finney If God is your Co-pilot, swap seats!

He is every inch a king who rules with absolute authority over his appetites and desires

You can’t give to others what you don’t have yourself. You can’t lead others where you haven’t been yourself. These three anonymous ______Puzzles and ‘Toons

Church ’Toons by Joe McKeever

Answers to last issue’s puzzles:

Father Abraham and Hidden Wisdom By Mark Oshman Originally published in Pulpit Helps, January 1995 Hidden Wisdom on next page