I got to preach to the whole congregation on New Years Day. If anyone missed it, here is my manuscript and a recording of the message.

INTRO

I was talking to a friend of mine at school about my preaching topic. I wanted to do something that was New Years related—it just seemed appropriate. I have taught on vows three times over the last six months and felt that would probably be appropriate. My friend didn’t think so. Over the next few hours I began to ponder what my truest desires for this church were; what could this church accomplish in 2012 that would bring me the most joy?

I love this church. There is some ambiguity surrounding the word church as we use it in the English language. For example:

Is the church a building? To a great degree, I do love this place. I grew up going to church in this building. When we drive by this building in the car, the kids say, ‘there’s the church’. There is something nostalgic and sentimental about this building for me, but this building is not the church.

Many times we refer to a church by their leadership? ‘That’s John MacArthur’s church’ or ‘Rick Warren’s church’ ‘Jim DeVore’s church’. I love our pastors and our elders. They have been great mentors to me. But, our pastors and elders—our leaders—are not the church.

How about the community? We are, after all, Cornerstone Church of Littlerock. We identify with this community. Often when we talk about ‘the church’ we are referring to the body of believers in a community. In missions discussions, we often talk about ‘the church in England’ of ‘the Church in South America’ as a way of quantifying the body of evangelical believers in a particular geographic region. I do love Littlerock. Jami and I were both raised here. We decided to buy our house here. I have lots of great God fearing friends in the community. Our families live here. But, the church is not this community.

The apostle Paul went to great lengths to identify the church in several places. I don’t think any other definition serves my purposes better. When I say I love this church, I mean what Paul wrote. In Romans 12.4-5 he wrote:

For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.

We are individually members of one another. That is to say that every one of us who meet, in this building and are a part of this community and submit to the leadership of this body of believers—we are each, individually, a member of Christ’s church. We are all uniquely gifted for service in the body; each one of us is valuable for the progression of the gospel and the building up of Christ’s church. When I say I love this church, I mean no less than that I love each and every one of Christ’s people here today.

So for each one of you—the church—my desire is the same as that of the apostle John for his churches. This should be a familiar passage for most of you, especially if you attend regularly and have heard Pastor Jim preach through second and third John.

I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth. (3 John 1:4)

Let’s get a quick handle on the context. John is writing this letter to a dear friend Gaius. In verse 3 you can see that John is happy to see that Gaius is ‘walking in the truth.’ They had issues with teachers coming in and teaching false doctrines and taking advantage of the believers, even leading some astray. There is a sense that John must have feared for his friend Gaius and was happy to hear he was standing firm in the truth. Verse 4 comes as almost a footnote—a generalization—from John in which he makes a blanket statement about all of those whom he ministers to. He has no greater joy than to hear that they are ‘walking in the truth.’

For most of us, we will read a verse like this and make a sensible assumption about what it means, but sometimes this can be an underestimation of the value of such a verse. In this verse, there are three character traits which we will look at that will help us to understand more clearly what it means to walk in the truth.

BODY

1. Reflect the truth (walk).

It’s pretty obvious that walk is not referring simply to walking. It is an idiom. In general walking has to do with living. To ‘walk the walk’ is to show what you believe by your actions. To ‘walk on egg shells’ is to carefully consider your words and actions. To ‘walk a thin line’ is entertain opposing views (ie. the line between the world and Christ). If we are going to walk in truth, our lives will be a reflection of the truth that we find.

1. Be IN the truth (in—as opposed to by).

The Greek word used for in is ἐν. This word is most commonly translated as ‘in’ or ‘by’. But, all major translations translate it as ‘in’, in this verse. The verse simply makes no sense if translated by. My Dad always says, “Almost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.” If I’m going to blow up a building and I throw a hand grenade by it that might do the trick. I don’t have to throw it in the building. But, in all other circumstances, by is just not good enough.

I could ask you this. Do you want to spend your eternity in heaven or by heaven? Just near it or actually in it? If I go to the lake to go swimming, I’m going to need to be in the lake to get wet, not just by it. In the same way, we must walk in the truth. Whatever this truth is we must be steeped in it. We have to be getting wet. We can’t be observing it from a distance. When we walk in the truth, we walk a narrow path. It’s not good enough to cut our own path that stays in eye shot, so that those on the path can see us and count us as with them; we must walk in the path of truth.

All this to say, be consistent. We will certainly falter in our walk and get out of the path, but get back in it. Don’t think that walking in your sin and simply being near the path is close enough.

1. Be real, genuine or authentic (truth).

Let’s start by asking, ‘What is the truth?’ Truth is what is real, genuine or authentic. To recap quickly, walking in the truth is living a life in consistently in pursuit of reality, genuineness and authenticity. Another way to say it is that we seek what is real. We have heard it said time and time again that no one’s theology is perfect. I’m not satisfied with that. I want to know the truth. And so in every way, we should desire to live according to the truth; always seeking, always refining our ways, and constantly being sanctified as we live lives which are closer to the truth.

‘Walking in the truth’ is an idiom. There is a sense in which truth simply means truth in this statement and certainly there is nothing in the text that would cause us to pursue this idea of truth to some further end, except for the author of the letter. We can look at John’s other letters and get a better idea of what he meant by truth. I think we find that easily in John 14.6 when John records Jesus’ words, “I am the way and the truth and the life.” Jesus is the truth.

And I think we will find that this understanding is consistent with the idea of truth anyway. John tells us in John 1 that Jesus is the very word of God made into flesh. Everything that Jesus did and lived is the demonstration of God’s truth. I don’t want to leave you with this abstract concept of walking in the truth, so let’s look quickly at four ways that we can walk in the truth.

EXHORTATION

1. Live according to Christ—John 14.6
2. Live because of the Gospel (the word or testimony of truth)—Ephesians 1.13, James 1.18
3. Live as a hard worker of the truth—2 Timothy 2.15
4. Live in humility—Ephesians 4.1-2 (the calling is to come to Christ—to truth), Colossians 3.12 (God’s chosen ones are those who He saved), 1 Peter 5.5 (instruction to the church.)
   1. Explain the context of the verses
   2. Define humility

CONCLUSION

Tie the three points into the opening illustration.

If we, as individuals, live according to Christ, remembering the gospel of our salvation, working hard for the truth and living in humble submission to Christ and one another, imagine what God will do in His church…

• …in this building.
• …with this leadership.
• …in this community.

If you are going to make a New Year’s resolution this year, resolve to pursue truth and walk in it.

Todd from North Carolina asks:

Where do we find Bible authority for celebrating the birth of Christ?

That is a great question. There actually is no command to celebrate the birth of Christ in the Bible.

We began celebrating the birth of Christ in the 4rth century. It was a decision made by the Roman Catholic bishops. They chose to celebrate Christmas on the 25th of December as a way to overshadow the Pagan Winter Solstice celebrations. The pagans didn’t really conform to Christianity. Pagan rituals were allowed into the celebration of Christmas which remain in essence today.

The question is, “If it’s not biblical, then why do we still celebrate?”

There is a long history of celebrating important events in the Bible. God even commanded Israel to celebrate as a remembrance of many important events. Where we are not commanded in  any way to celebrate Christmas, we most certainly are at liberty to, so long as we remember we are celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ our savior and not Santa Clause or any other social ritual promoted today.

I was reading in John 6 this morning and came to verse 44, where I felt I needed to study it out a little to truly understand the meat of the passage. Here is a Greek-English breakdown of verse 44, followed by my own translation:

no one (οὐδεὶς) has power (δύναται) to come (ἐλθεῖν) to (πρός) me (με) if (ἐὰν) not (μὴ) the (ὁ) Father (πατὴρ) that (ὁ) sends (πέμψας) me (με) draws (ἑλκύσῃ) him (αὐτόν) and I also (κἀγὼ) will raise (ἀναστήσω) him (αὐτὸν) in (ἐν) the (τῇ) end of the days (ἐσχάτῃ ἡμέρᾳ).

No one has power to come to me if the Father, sending me, does not draw him and I will also raise him in the end of days.

The conundrum which the Jews were dealing with had to do with Jesus claiming to have come down from heaven, but they knew him as the son of Mary. Their question is essentially, ‘How could you have been born and raised of Mary and also have come down from heaven?’

Jesus responds with, ‘No one has power to come to me if the Father, sending me, does not draw him and I will also raise him in the end of days.’

Contextually, we see that he is addressing their unbelief. He is, as is fairly obvious by the text, saying that we can only come to Christ if God the Father draws us to Christ. This is the first and foremost proof text for the Calvinistic perspective on election—that God predestined some for salvation and others for condemnation.

My apologies to anyone who is hoping for an argument against it; I need to get back to working on a hermeneutics project for school, but I’ll leave you with one thought: the word of God is true; therefore, this statement is true. If there is to be reconciliation with this passage and arguments for our freedom to choose Christ, I suspect we will only find the answer by doing a lengthy study on dispensational pneumatology—the study of the Holy Spirit’s role and activity in varying dispensations or era.

Clearly the Spirit takes on a different role in the church dispensation than he did in the pre-mosaic era or in the era of Israel. If we are to define a dispensation that ranges from either post-exilic times or from the coming of John the Baptist until the sending of the Spirit at Pentecost, it will be difficult to define the workings of the Spirit for lack of data, but that is probably the only place a valid argument might lay.

Over time many readers of the Bible have identified and studied the role and progression of covenants in the Bible. Understanding the progression of the covenants will help to understand God’s purposes in the narratives of Genesis, the Pentateuch and the whole Bible. This paper will trace the development of the Noahic and Abrahamic covenants to reveal God’s purposes within them.

Development of the Noahic Covenant

The Noahic covenant was a covenant made between God and Noah, but ultimately with all of mankind. The backdrop for the covenant was given in Genesis 6 when “The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (v. 5). God grieved over all creation and was sorry that He had made them; yet God was pleased with Noah (vv. 6-8). The Noahic narrative describes an act of God’s mercy upon mankind; where man was sinful, God chose to use Noah to preserve His creation.

The Noahic covenant was foreshadowed in Genesis 6. God said that He would establish His covenant with Noah, a statement directly followed by His instruction to build the ark (v. 18). As the narrative progresses, Noah and his sons build the ark, God brings two of every animal into the ark and God exacts His judgment upon the wicked generation, preserving Noah and his sons from within the ark while the rest of mankind was destroyed by the flood (Genesis 6.19-22; 7; 8.1-19).

There are two movements which serve to setup the establishment of the Noahic covenant. The first comes in Genesis 8. God recognizes that “the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth” (v. 21). Given that God had just destroyed nearly the entire creation, He vows never to do so again. In fact, in His promise to preserve the seasons, God vows never to destroy every living creature again until the end times when the entire earth will be destroyed (v. 22).

The second movement comes in Genesis 9. God echoes His command to Adam in Genesis 1.28 when He tells Noah to “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth” (v. 1). God chooses to preserve mankind as a whole through the line of Noah and not through any other means. God also gives mankind the ability to fulfill the command given to Adam to “have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth” (Genesis 1.28) in that He both allows Noah and his sons to eat meat and He places the fear of man into the hearts of the animals (v. 2, 3).

It is in this movement that the purpose of the Noahic covenant is seen. God tells of the importance of the lifeblood of an animal. Noah is given two commands. First, man is not to eat the blood of an animal (v. 4). Second, because the life is in the blood, man is not to shed the blood of man, lest his own blood be shed (v. 6a, b). Man’s life is to be honored because man was made in God’s image (v. 6c). These statements are bookended by the command to multiply and fill the earth (v. 1) and a command to all mankind (the you in verse 7 is plural in the original) to fill the earth. The purpose of the Noahic covenant is to reestablish mankind upon the earth; to restore the life which God destroyed in the flood.

The establishment of the covenant occurs in Genesis 9. It is at this point that God promises to Noah and his offspring after him (all mankind) not to destroy all mankind and animals again by a flood (vv. 8-11). The following verses describe the sign of the Noahic covenant (vv.12-17). When the rainbow appears in the sky, God will remember His promise to Noah and to all mankind, not to destroy them by a flood, regardless of their wickedness. God then shows the sign to Noah, that he too will remember the covenant. Therefore, the rainbow serves as a reminder to mankind of God’s promises and of the purpose of the covenant, to fill the earth.

Development of the Abrahamic Covenant

The Abrahamic covenant was a covenant made between God and Abraham. As mankind filled the earth again after the times of Noah, they proved to be wicked just as before the flood. The Abrahamic covenant is a covenant between God and Abraham, where God promised to make a great nation out of Abraham. This was to be a holy nation, devoted to God. The first eleven chapters of Genesis describe this need by narrating man’s wickedness and pursuit of rebellion against God.

The foundational elements of the Abrahamic covenant are found in Genesis 12. God commanded Abram to go out from the land he was living in without any exact direction (v. 1). He then gives Abram a promise which will come if Abram is obedient to this task. Abram is promised to be made into a great nation (v. 2a), he is promised blessing and reputation (v. 2b) and he is promised that he will be a blessing to others (v. 2c). Abram will become the standard by which people of the earth will be blessed, “I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse” (v. 3a). And finally, it is given that all families (nations or peoples) will find blessing in Abram (v. 3b).

The covenant with Abram is made in Genesis 15. God gives Abram a vision, where he promises him two things. First, He promises Abram that his descendents will become countless as the stars in the sky are countless. Abram is concerned about this because he has no physical heir, but God promises him an heir (vv. 1-5). Second, God promises Abram possession of land. He shows him the promised land (the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites (vv. 19-21)) and tells him that his descendants will posses this land (v. 18). This is the land which the holy nation which God will bring out of Abram will posses.

The sign of the Abrahamic covenant comes in chapter 17 when God says, “You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you” (v. 11). The covenant agreement is that the male children of Abraham (God changed Abram’s name to Abraham in v. 5) must have their foreskins removed—circumcision—and God will bless them with an inheritance (v. 8-13). God says that any who are not circumcised have acted against the covenant and will be cut off from the people of God (v. 14).

The purpose of the Abrahamic covenant is that Abraham’s seed would become a great nation, but that they would be a holy nation. Abraham was to “command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice” (Genesis 18.19). The idea is that other nations would see the blessings of God’s people and that they would desire to follow God in order to receive the same blessing. This is what is meant by, “all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him [Abraham]” (Genesis 18.17). The purpose of the Abrahamic covenant is that the nation which came out of Abraham would lead other nations to follow God.

Genesis 22 affirms the blessings if the covenant. Abraham was tested by God and proved to be obedient. Because of this God promises to fulfill the covenant promises: to bless Abraham (v.17a), to multiply Abraham’s descendents beyond numbering (v. 17b), to give them the land of their enemies (v. 17c), and to bless all nations through the nation which would come out of Abraham (v. 18). This covenant promise is based on Abraham’s obedience, not the nations obedience.

Throughout the book of Genesis, God is faithful to this promise to Abraham. On several accounts, God reaffirms His promises made to Abraham (26:2-5, 23-25; 28:10-17; 35:9-12; 50:24). God is faithful to remember the covenant as the nation is faithful to keep with the sign of the covenant of circumcision. These promises as recounted in the latter parts of the narrative are twofold: to bring a nation out of the descendants of Abraham and to deliver them into the land of their enemies.

As the remainder of the Pentateuch (and the remainder of the Bible) is read, the Bible reader will see the promise of the Noahic covenant played out repeatedly. As mankind pursues wickedness, God yet has mercy on them and does not destroy the work of His hands. The latter books of the Pentateuch and the books of the former prophets will show God’s faithfulness to the Abrahamic covenant as the holy nation of Israel is formed out of the seed of Abraham and in time, delivered into the land which God had promised them. Even under the New Covenant we await the ultimate fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant as prophesied by the Apostle John.

The goal of grammatical- historical hermeneutics is to uncover the truth of scripture by uncovering the meaning and implications of the passage from the language of the original text in its original context. That is, what was actually being said to the original audience and why was it being said. This approach gives the student of scripture pure insight into God’s intent behind the scriptures and allows the implications to be properly understood and applied within a modern context. There are two approaches that must be taken to the scripture: content analysis and context analysis.

CONTENT

The content has to do with what the passage actually says. What are the words used and how do they fit together? The art of interpretation comes through in the student’s ability to first understand what the message says and then craft it into an English sentence which best represents the truth of scripture. The two approaches to content are lexical and syntactical analysis.

Lexical analysis has to do with the meaning of the actual words. Many words have multiple meanings. Same as a trunk could refer to the elongated nose of an elephant or the storage compartment in your car, many Hebrew and Greek words can mean drastically different things. More often than not, the context is used to determine the intended meaning of the words, however there can also be etymological implications when determining the meaning. It should be noted, however, that etymology alone is not a reliable means itself for determining the meaning of a word.

Syntactical analysis has to do with the relation of the words, phrases and clauses. Identifying the relationship of the words in the original language, allows the student to accurately translate them into a grammatical English structure. When words are not placed in the correct order, they can drastically change the meaning of the text. For example, exchanging the subject for the direct object can be drastic. To say that “Jim pet the dog.” is far different than “The dog pet Jim”.

CONTEXT

Context has to do with the situation in which the text was written. We don’t live in the time that the text was written, nor do we live in the culture in which it was written. We probably are not even familiar with the genre which the text belongs to because they are no longer commonly used. Knowing the context will allow the student of scripture to accurately translate the words as well as provide the framework necessary for determining the purpose of the text and deriving implication. There are three contexts which must be considered: historical, cultural and literary.

The historical context places the scripture into the setting in which it was written. It can be valuable to know the narrow and the broad history of the text. For example, when dealing with Solomonic writings such as Ecclesiastes, it is valuable to understand the history of Israel and the Davidic reign as well as the context of Israel in relation to the rest of the influential world.

The cultural context has to do with the traditions and practices of the people group being discussed by the text. To understand the cultural context is often to understand the principle behind the text. For instance, the levitical command to not boil a goat in its mother’s milk is inexplicable if we do not understand the symbolism derived of the practice within the Canaanite culture. The principle is to not identify with ungodly people. This principle is lost without the cultural context.

Finally, the literary context allows the student to see what is happening in the story. The Bible is a complete work and therefore valuable to knowing where the passage exists within the story of the Bible. However, it is also valuable in understanding where the passage exists within the book itself. Questions should be asked. Where does the passage fit into the purpose of this book? Where does the passage fit within the structure of the book? What is the literary genre? The literary context also goes deeper to the immediate context; the student must consider the preceding and proceeding passages to be certain that the implications of the passage are fully understood within the context in which they are given. Like a letter is best read from beginning to end, any book of the Bible—and any passage within it—should be read from beginning to end and understood within the context of the whole.

It is only when considering the content and the context of a passage when you can understand fully what a passage says, but more so, why it says it. The goal of Bible interpretation is never to know what a passage says—simply for knowledge’s sake—but to understand why it says what it says. It is the ‘why’ that is essential for understanding the implications of the Bible so that they can be applied to real life within any cultural setting.

Theology of Disciple Making

A recent influx of missions discussions in the church has prompted some thought regarding conflicting interpretations of Matthew 28.19-20a. In general, there is not notable discrepancy as to how to translate the words from the original Greek to English, however there are stark difference in how we understand the English translations. The following grammatical analysis is intended to bring clarity to the text by analyzing the major areas of discrepancy, followed by the evangelistic implications of the passage and concluding with a practical mathetology.

Interpretations of Matthew 28.19-20a

ESV

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

Young’s Literal

Having gone, then, disciple all the nations, (baptizing them — to the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all, whatever I did command you,)

GW

So wherever you go, make disciples of all nations: Baptize them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Teach them to do everything I have commanded you.

Douay-Rheims 1899

Going therefore, teach ye all nations; baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you:

Jay P. Green Literal 1985

Going, then, disciple all nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit; teaching them to obey all things, whatever I have commanded.

Synthesis

Therefore, going, train up disciples in all nations by baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit and by teaching them to obey all things which I have commanded you.

Problems in Interpretation

The Going Issue

There are two common understandings of the command, ‘going, train up disciples’. When there are theological differences, most will cling to one side of the argument or the other—black or white. These are the opposing views (1) the command to make disciples means ‘as you go, wherever you go’ or (2) this is an imperative command to go to other nations to make disciples.

The command, ‘going, train up disciples’ can be compared to the statement ‘running, bring me the hammer.’

In the 2^nd sentence, running is the means by which the hammer was brought. If it said, walking there would be a completely different implication. Running has a sense of urgency to it. In the same way, the word going is the means by which we are to train up disciples and brings implication to the statement.

Given the grammatical analysis, there are two implications. (1) This is not an imperative, a command to go to another nation as the imperative is to ‘train up’ and (2) there is an implication of purpose and intent in the training up of disciples.

Neither of the common views are, therefore, correct if the grammar is understood properly. The first understanding is not correct because it denies purpose and intent; it allows you to do whatever you want so long as you are making disciples in the process. The second is also not correct as there is not a command to go somewhere specific; the command is to train up or make disciples.

As is often the case in theological dispute, the truth lies in the middle. We are to be going intentionally and purposefully with the intent of training up or making disciples, however the going is the means to the end, implying purpose and intent in disciple making, not an imperative command to go to another nation.

At the same time, we all need to be intentional and purposeful in the command to train up or make disciples—we need to be going to do this! Many will be called to fulfill this calling in overseas missions work with an unreached people group. Many will be called to do this locally. Many will be called to all sorts of places in-between.[1]

The Baptizing and Teaching Issue

There is another problematic portion of this passage. Many people see three commands in this passage: Make disciples, baptize and teach. It is clearly observed that there is no command in the passage to baptize or teach. The only command is to make or train up disciples.

Again, let’s look at this grammatically. The command in the ESV is, “…make disciples…, baptizing them…, teaching them…” Let’s say you were told to “Make a cake, mixing the ingredients, baking at 350°” What is being said? This is a command to make a cake which also provides instructions on how to accomplish it. Therefore, in the synthesis of the passage, the words by and and are inserted to indicate baptizing and teaching more clearly as the instructions for training up disciples, in light of the grammatical analysis.

Evangelistic Implications

The ‘Making Disciples’ Issue

There is some concern about how to translate mathetusate (μαθητεύσατε). The word means to train up disciples, but is often used in the sense of making disciples. There is a simple nuance between making and training up, but there is really no reason to prefer one translation over another, except that to say ‘train up’ would be a more literal approach. In the end, mathetusate is not simply to make disciples, but to train them up, so regardless of how it is translated, the implication remains the same.

Regarding Evangelism

Given this translation and interpretation, this passage does not appear to directly relate to evangelism; at least not superficially. However, in that a disciple is a follower of Christ and a follower of Christ is one who, by faith, responds to the gospel message, it can certainly be concluded that this passage, by exclusion, presupposes and even emphasizes the necessity of gospel presentation as a foundational element of disciple making.

All that to say, Jesus did not tell the disciples to present the gospel to people in order to make them disciples—that was obvious and therefore implicit in the disciple making process.

Concluding Thoughts

It would be a vain effort not to provide some sort of practicum for mathetology at this point. The following is a list of application derived from the previous arguments.

• Make an intentional effort to train up disciples. Don’t expect that people will come to Christ as a natural consequence of ‘living your life your own way’ (as you go).
• Pursue God’s calling for your life. Not all are called to the mission’s field, but as you are, you must heed that calling. In the same way that every member of the body cannot be a hand or an eye, we cannot all be overseas missionaries, nor can we all refuse the call to be overseas missionaries.[2]
• People become disciples by no other means than that they respond in faith to the message of the gospel.[3] However, in this passage, Jesus gives a 3 step plan for the training up of disciples:[4]

1. Evangelize
2. Baptize
3. Catechize

Evangelism alone does not make disciples; Jesus prescribes baptism and catechism as a consequence to evangelism recognizing that faith does not always occur as a response to the hearing of the gospel message.

In that this passage was presented to the disciples just prior to the ascension, it can be concluded that Jesus was giving this command to the church and not to the individual.[5] Not denying the obvious implications for the individual in the text, God’s soteriological purpose is fulfilled through the church. Therefore, the church as a universal institution is charged with the evangelizing, baptizing and catechizing of all nations. As the church is represented locally and there is no universal church authority aside from Christ, every local church should have an intentional and purposeful model (not necessarily a program) for obedience to this charge.

Without being overly pragmatic, a model constructed from the first few chapters of Acts demonstrates a practical philosophy. Evangelize many. Baptize those who agree. Catechize those who are willing.

We live in culture, virtually devoid of godliness, but rich in wisdom. We seek to understand all, to know all, to be all; but in our ignorance of God’s wisdom, we are fools, claiming our own deaths for the sake of pride. Solomon teaches us rather than pursuing destruction by the ignorance of God’s wisdom, to listen to wisdom so that we will ‘dwell secure’, ‘be at ease’ and be ‘without dread of disaster’.

WISDOM’S CRY (vv. 20-23)

It’s easy enough to say here that wisdom is being personified here and is therefore a type of Christ—at the very least—if not, Christophany. Wisdom cries out above the calamity of the city streets. It cries out over the voices of the elders as they meet at the gates of the city.

“How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple?” (Proverbs 1.22). To be simple in this sense is to say that you, when left to your own devices, do well enough. How simple are you that you do not realize the very necessity of Christ for life? How simple are you that you do not realize your day to day reliance on his provision and on his grace? How simple are you that you live as if you control your very life, not the sovereign God?

“How long will…fools hate knowledge?” (Proverbs 1.22). We are a generation who hates to be taught. This is not a new way of thinking. There is humility in submitting to others to learn from them. Our pride causes us to think as if we know all things, in spite of our ignorance. How long will we hate the knowledge that comes, not just from wiser men, but from the Word, that is Christ? How long will we reject perfect wisdom, instead choosing our perfect folly?

REFUSAL TO HEED WISDOM’S CRY (VV. 24-31)

Wisdom has two responses to man’s folly in refusing to listen to her.

Laughter. Wisdom will mock us. This is not the sort of laughter that finds joy in the folly of others, but the sort of laughter that comes from irony, from the simplicity of folly or from an oddity. It is when you tell a child not to climb, but they do. When they fall—presuming no major injury—you may chuckle at their folly; you may say ‘I told you so’, this mocking.

Ignoring. Wisdom will at this point ignore you. The pains of the world do in fact come for the purpose of discipline, so that you may learn of the error of your ways and repent of them. But, God does not wish us to come running to Him only in the face of trials; He wishes that we all would find rest in him during times of terror as well as during times of blessing. God will allow you to suffer—yet for a little while—that you may learn, not to run to Him at all, but to reside always under the Eagle’s wings.

WISDOM’S PROVERB—THE CONSEQUENCES OF DESPISING WISDOM (VV. 32,33)

Oh how great is man’s folly that he would constantly subject himself to death. We take God’s revelation for granted. He has given us His word, so that we may cling to it and live by it, yet we abandon it, we reject it and we suffer for it, to our quickening destruction.

Our lives are full of insecurity, difficulty and worry, “but whoever listens to me [God’s wisdom] will dwell secure and will be at ease, without dread of disaster” (Proverbs 1.33).

Therefore, cleave to the wisdom of the Lord.

Dear Friends and Family,

I wanted to take some time to update you on the crazy events of our family’s current affairs. Last December I finished my BA in Theology at Sterling College in Kansas (online). Unsure of what God was calling me to, I began applying for jobs at churches and Christian camps. For the first couple of months, I did not see a clear opening anywhere.

By February I began to miss school. Jami and I, after prayerfully considering the idea of going back to school, agreed that if God would have me to return to school, he would have to pay for it. That was a Monday. On Thursday, I got a call from a website I had produced content for some years before. This website had been paying me royalties on my work for the past 2.5 years and they didn’t want to do that anymore; they wanted to buy my content. The offer they made (which we accepted) was enough to cover about 1½ -2 years of tuition, depending on what college I went to.

This was a pretty obvious sign, so the search for schools began. I will spare you the boring details, but I settled on getting my MDiv at The Master’s Seminary in Sun Valley. An MDiv is a pastoral degree by design, but it is also a gateway degree required to begin doctoral and other graduate studies. The degree is 98 units and will require 3-4 years to complete. My goal at the time was to continue in school and become a writer of theology. By now, a whole three weeks into school, my heart has changed and my desire is to become a pastor.

Some of you are probably wondering at this point how I am feeding my wife and three kids during this process. Well, in July I opened a new branch of my internet business, ADWCP (http://adwcp.com). I used to focus on website marketing and web content development. Now I have expanded into building user friendly websites for small businesses, ministries, churches and bloggers (or whatever else comes up). Currently, I am working on a social network similar to Facebook and LinkedIn for Christian Film Makers. I am also building a traditional foods recipe sharing site for Jami.

Recently we have had missionaries visiting our church. Traditionally, they have support letters that request support from friends and family. I won’t be asking for financial support, but I liked the idea of keeping my friends and family updated. And I will be asking support in other ways:

First is through prayer. The following is a list of struggles that we would ask you be praying for:

1. Schedules. I am going to school full time, running my business, directing youth ministry at Cornerstone and trying to be a dad and husband. This is proving to be difficult (who knew?). Jami is doing, literally, everything else, including homeschooling the kids, a far more difficult task. We are praying for peace in the house and efficiency in our schedules.
2. Work. I am praying for 4 website contracts/month. Ideally, this will allow me to pay the bills and put away a couple dollars for books for the next semester.
3. Health. I fear as we are entering the winter season that illnesses could (and probably will as they always do) enter our home. This will severely complicate our ability to function as a family and to do the work we have committed to do. So, please pray that this season we will not have a lot of sickness.

Second, we can use your support by helping me with my business. There are three things you can do to help us out:

1. Everyone knows a few people who would like to have a website. These could be business owners, writers, artists, actors or someone who simply wants to have a platform to speak their mind (bloggers). Please refer them to my website (http://adwcp.com). If you need business cards, please contact me and I can send you some.
2. If you have a Facebook, please ‘like’ my page (http://facebook.com/adwcp). This will increase my presence on Facebook and allow me to expand my online presence, which hopefully will result in more contracts.
3. Follow me on twitter (if you twitter) (http://twitter.com/einquisitive).

Thank you so much for your prayer and support. We will be trying to send out periodic updates on how school is going and to share how God is working.

God bless you richly,

Anthony Delgado

As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another,as good stewards of God’s varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

—1 Peter 4.10,11

God’s grace is varied; that is, it manifests differently in each of us. As we have received spiritual gifts, we are to use them to serve one another.We have all received spiritual gifts as the Spirit has come upon us and we must use those gifts to serve one another. How do we do that?

1. As stewards. A steward is someone who manages another’s property. A good steward is one who does a good job at it. The household is increasing in wealth under a good steward.
2. God’s grace. As stewards, we are managing God’s grace, not that we have any power over God’s grace, but the church has been charged with the distribution of the gospel and the edification of fellow believers. Spiritual gifts are given to us to accomplish this charge.
3. To the glory of God. We are to use these spiritual gifts to serve one another—to edify one another—to the glory of God. We are not to use our gifts to our own glory and selfish gain, but to God’s glory and to the gain of the kingdom.

If you have been blessed with the word of God, teach Sunday school, preach the gospel. If you have been blessed with service gifts, use them to bless others. Whatever gift you have recieved is for the building up and edification of God’s people—both in the sense of evangelism, but in the context for the building up of the church body, universally and locally.

The passage wraps up with a doxology of sorts, in which we are reminded that Jesus Christ is the owner of all eternal glory and dominion. All things belong to him: past, present, future and eternally. As he has charged us with this stewardship, o that we would see God glorified as we seek to humbly serve our savior, Jesus Christ.

I received an email recently from a woman. She has recently been asked to lead a children’s ministry class in which she will teach biblical fundamentals to children. The materials she has been given by the church are old and do not provide enough relevant material.

She asks, “How do I get their attention, making it exciting enough to keep their attention.” In essence, there are two concerns here: hermeneutics and homiletics.

I would not recommend teaching from a book; rather teach from the Bible. Here is a simple plan for accomplishing this:

Hermeneutics

Hermeneutics has to do with your method of study. My best advise for a new teacher is to find a passage in the Bible (not a single verse, but a whole block of text) and teach through the passage. Here is a step by step method for studying through a passage.

• Choose a passage.
• Read the chapter before the passage, the chapter the passage is in and the chapter after the passage. This gives you a general understanding of the context in which the passage was written. If you have time, read the whole book.
• Pray for the Holy Spirit to reveal His truth through your study.
• Read the passage itself three more times. The third time through, begin to write down notes or questions that one might ask about the passage. Even if you know the answer to a question or you think it might seem silly, write it down. Others may still ask the question.
• Write down more questions about the passage. Look at the word choices. You might ask yourself why Jesus used a specific word, when another may seem better. You may ask whether something is metaphorical or literal.
• Begin to seek out answers to these questions by reading through commentaries, study Bible notes, asking your Pastors or Elders, etc. Also, remember the Bible is the best commentary on the Bible. Find other passages that might help clarify the passage you are studying.
• Create a Hermeneutical outline. This is a verse by verse breakdown of the answers to your questions.

Homiletics

Homiletics has to do with your delivery. In your study, you have uncovered the truth of scripture, but now you must make it interesting and applicable to your audience.

• Who is your audience? It can be kids, teens, adults, seniors. It can be girls, boys, men, women. You might be teaching a group of musicians, comedians, who knows! Whoever it is, you must know the audience.
• INTRO: The introduction can be a story or an analogy which will help to clarify the truth of the passage. It could be a news story, a fable or something you come up with all on your own. Often you can find a Psalm that speaks to the emotion of the passage you will teach that will reinforce the message you are about to present. Or get creative. The intro needs to peak the interest of your audience without giving them the whole application.
• BODY: The body is usually a verse by verse explanation of the passage. You will rely heavily on your hermenuetical outline for this portion. You want to explain what the passage means. Use lots of word pictures (metaphors, similes, illustrations, etc.) to make sure that the audience understands the passage. Make sure that all illustrations are relevent to your audience. You don’t want to use an astrophysics analogy on preschoolers.
• APPLICATION: Bible study is pointless if we do not apply it to our lives. So also, Bible teaching is pointless if we do not teach an application. Choose one or two challenges to give to your audience. With children and teens, these can be direct challenges such as ‘obey your parents.’ Often with older audiences, you must be more general in your application and allow them to adapt it to their personal contexts.

To recap, choose a passage of scripture that portrays a Biblical fundamental truth. Study it and teach it in a way that the children can understand and apply it. Do not neglect to ask the Spirit for guidance. Aside from Him, we cannot be effective in teaching ministry. We must be more on our knees and more in the Word than anyone.