Christ Church (Moscow, ID)

INTRODUCTIONLord willing, we are going to work our way through Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, the letter we commonly call 2 Corinthians. We call it this because we only have two letters that Paul wrote to them, although there was likely another one.THE TEXT“Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, unto the church of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints which are in all Achaia: Grace be to you and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Cor. 1:1–2).HISTORICAL BACKGROUNDAchaia, mentioned here is our text, is what we would call southern Greece. Northern Greece was known then as Macedonia. Corinth was built on the Isthmus of Corinth, where the Peloponnese was connected to the mainland. Cenchrea (Rom. 16:1; Acts 18:18) was the harbor that serviced Corinth on the eastern side of the isthmus, and another harbor (Lechaeumon) serviced it from the west.The Corinth of classical Greece had been destroyed by the Romans in 146 B.C. and was left desolate for about a century. The Romans rebuilt it in 44 B.C. and wound up making it their capital of Greece. The city was influential and also sexually corrupt and decadent.When Paul first came to Corinth (around A.D. 49-50), the city was around 80 years old, and had a population of about 80,000 people. The city was a nouveau-riche boom town, populated by merchants and other hustlers. The Corinthians were wealthy, and their wealth was seen in trade, in sports, and in entertainment. For example, the theater in that city held 18,000 people. Aphrodite was the goddess of the city, and at one time there were five temples in the area dedicated to her. According to Strabo, the earlier Greek temple to Aphrodite was staffed with a thousand sacred prostitutes, which may also have been the case with the new temple in the Roman era.SUMMARY OF THE TEXTAnd so to plant a church in Corinth was to plant a church in a key strategic location. This was an important city, and that meant that a church there was going to be an important church. This letter is going to be a robust defense of Paul’s authentic ministry, which had been challenged by spurious apostles. This is why Paul begins by saying that his letter is from Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ “by the will of God” (v. 1). The letter was also from Timothy, Paul’s co-laborer. It was addressed to the church of God in Corinth, not to mention all the saints throughout all of Achaia (v. 1). The next verse is the standard salutation—grace and peace from the Father and the Son. You have heard me indicate before that I believe the Spirit is not mentioned by name because He is the grace and peace.DRAMA IN CORINTHWhen Paul had first come to Corinth, he ministered there for about a year-and-a-half. Working together with Timothy and Silas, not to mention Aquila and Priscilla, the initial planting of this church was quite successful. You can read about this period in Acts 18:1-17. After Paul left, he went to Ephesus, then to Jerusalem, after which he returned to Ephesus. After a period of about three years, he wrote 1 Corinthians. This works out because 1 Corinthians was his first letter to them. Paul sent Timothy to Corinth for a visit (1 Cor. 16:1-11).Timothy discovered that Paul’s enemies had been at work in Corinth, and had orchestrated a revolt against the apostle. Paul then determined to visit Corinth just briefly in order to address everything. That visit was a disaster, what Paul called his “painful visit” (2 Cor. 2:1). All kinds of stories were circulating about Paul, and many Corinthian Christians had rejected him as a result, and had gone after a “different gospel” (2 Cor. 11:4). Paul returned to Ephesus, wiped out, and sent Titus to Corinth with what he called his “severe” letter (2 Cor. 2:4-5). This missing letter is the original 2 Corinthians, while our 2 Corinthians is 3 Corinthians. Still with me? That missing letter called for the Corinthians to repent, and glory to God, most of them actually did. The bulk of the church came back to Paul’s side, although there was still significant clean up that had to take place. That is what is being addressed in this epistle, as Paul is making preparations to come to them for his third visit (2 Cor. 12:14; 13:1). 2 Corinthians is cleaning up after the major battle.AUTHENTIC MINISTRYIn this letter we find Paul’s most extensive defense of his apostolic ministry. He hatedtalking about himself, but he loved the gospel so much that if a defense of gospel ministry required it, he was willing even to do that. Paul tells the Corinthians in this letter that he had been flogged by the Jews five times (2 Cor. 11:24). The Mishnah tells us that the whip had three leather strands, and 13 strokes would be applied to the chest, 13 to one shoulder, and 13 to the other. This happened to Paul five times. That is 585 welts for the kingdom.Why is Paul emphasizing this kind of thing? Had he given up on trying to impress the Corinthians? Wasn’t their problem with him the fact that Paul was so weak in his bodily presence with them (2 Cor. 10:10)? Yes, it was, but as Paul undertook to teach them the true meaning of authentic ministry, the authentic meaning of real ministry, part of that lesson included learning how God loves to showcase His power in the midst of weakness.“And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me” (2 Cor. 12:9).“But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. So then death worketh in us, but life in you” (2 Cor. 4:7–12).So take heart, Christian. In Christ, faithful weakness is our superpower.

INTRODUCTIONRivalry, envy, and vain-glory has gunked up the gears of human relationships from the very first pages of Scripture down to the present. Regardless of the relationship, whether between individuals or nations, rivalry slowly begins to fill the room with fumes. An explosion is waiting to ignite from the smallest spark. Man has accustomed himself to building his empires this way. This isn’t how God builds.THE TEXTWherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands; That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh. For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit (Eph. 2:11–22).SUMMARY OF THE TEXTPassing from the good news of Ephesians 1:15-2:10, Paul then turns to assure the Ephesian Gentiles that they are not second class citizens in God’s household. They were once called “the Uncircumcised”, and thus were strangers to the covenant promises, without hope & without God (vv.11-12).But the blood of Jesus has brought near those who were once far off (v13), bringing peace by demolishing the wall which prevented Gentiles from coming any closer (v14). The rivalry which once marked the relationship between Jew & Gentile has been abolished by Christ’s flesh, because by His incarnation as the True Israel of God, national Israel’s laws have not only been fulfilled and satisfied, but the blessings promised to Israel have been expanded to include all nations (v15).This reconciliation was possible by the cross, where enmity was slain (v16). Paul cites Isaiah’s prophecy of the messianic restoration of Israel (Is. 57:19), and applies it to Jesus. Christ accomplished what Isaiah foretold: peace to both far and near through His Word, granting access to the Father by the same Spirit (vv17-18).Now, the Ephesian Gentiles were no longer reckoned as strangers, but fellow-citizens, of God’s household, they didn’t need a visitor’s visa (v19). The foundation of this house was the teaching of the apostles & prophets, but the chief cornerstone is Jesus Christ (v20). It’s by this ministry of reconciliation that God is building a dwelling place for Himself (21-22). God takes Jewish bricks & Gentile bricks, and by the mortar of Christ’s blood, builds a temple in which His presence dwells.ENGINES WITHOUT OILTrying to get a group of people to get along without the regenerating power of the Spirit is like trying to get an engine to work without any oil. Inevitably the friction of slights, envies, gripes, and grievances will cause the engine to seize up.Mankind has tried several workarounds. But these routes only make things worse: the route of avoidance, the route of compromise, & the route of war. But regardless of the level of the relationship––whether it be intimate relationships like marriage, or national relationships––the temptation to enmity & rivalry is too irresistible.When you take the route of avoidance, you’re opting to endure the noxious fumes rather than clear the air. You’d rather suffocate from the carbon monoxide of pent up grievances, than make peace with “them”. Or else you covet the position of being included in some group of “them.” You compromise your conscience & tear others down in order to get in. Or else you choose war, and go scorched earth on “them”. Your rival must be wiped off the face of the earth, or at least the family group chat. In other words, we’re a tangled mess of disappointed desires, gnawing envies, and arrogant boastings.ONE NEW MANThis is the temptation which faced believing Jews & Gentiles in Ephesus. A long-standing bitter rivalry existed between them. One commentator notes that the Jews’ feelings for the Gentiles was that “The Gentiles were created by God to be fuel for the fires of hell.” The Gentiles were dogs. They were the Uncircumcision & Unclean.The Gentiles weren’t innocent in this ongoing feud. Gentile nations, after all, refused to help Israel during the Exodus (Ex. 17:8). They’d cheered when Babylon razed Jerusalem (Ps. 137:7). There was deeply ingrained animosity towards the Jews (Cf. Acts 16:20). These frequent skirmishes led to Jerusalem’s utter destruction in 70AD.This human tendency to break into Hatfields & McCoys is one of the central dramas of human existence. The central problem wasn’t the fact that humans developed distinctions. That’s the natural outcome being fruitful & multiplying. The central problem was that we were sundered from God Himself. Having turned from God in Eden, mankind had been driven out from the presence of God. The fruit of this was seen in the next episode: brother slaying brother.While the Jews had been given the privilege of coming near to God, it wasn’t from any special deserving on their part (Deu. 7:7-8). They had no cause for glorying. God had chosen them, yes. But He’d chosen them to solve the math equation in front of the whole class. The Israelite nation had, on the whole, failed miserably.Meanwhile, the Gentiles had continued to run from God’s presence, worshipping the demons behind their idols. Neither the Jew who was near to God through the covenant, nor the Gentile who was far from God could stand before the holiness of God (Cf. Rom. 3:9ff). Both stood guilty before God’s holy law.Christ came as a wrecking ball to all vain-glory, whether it be individual vain-glory, national vain-glory, or any other variety of human boasting. By His righteous life & death He broke down the partition wall between earthly rivals, because He first tore the veil which separated man from God. In so doing, He made one new man, a temple for His glory.A BLOOD LOYALTYThe realization that the tendency to claw each other’s eyes out at the slightest provocation lies just under the surface for any of us, does nothing to free us from it. You can know that rivalry can use anything for fuel, and still find yourself running from those you should reconcile with, or fighting with those you should reconcile with, or capitulating to those you shouldn’t be sidling up to.All human enterprises will escalate into fractious bickering until blood is shed. All our efforts to hold society together requires blood to be shed. The “others” must be slain. The “invaders” must be slaughtered. The “pariah” must be sacrificed to appease the gods.Mankind demands loyalty. But it’s a loyalty based on the shame of sin. Sinful loyalties lay their foundation on ethnic vain-glory, or bitterness towards other’s success, or irrational fear of man, or having joined together to shed innocent blood. Notice that modern day appeals for unity & inclusion seek it on the basis of shared sin & approval for sin.Christian unity is founded on shared forgiveness for sin. What Christ has done is make it possible that your sins, and “their” sins can all be forgiven. And thus we can forgive each other, as God through Christ forgave us (Eph. 4:32). Christ proclaims peace to both near & far. Only there, at the cross, do we find peace. Peace with God & peace with each other. The cross demands us to all see our own sin, and to see God’s wrath upon it. But also, we see there our righteousness. If you’re both in Christ, God calls you––and your rival––righteous.ENMITY IS SLAINAs one pastor once wrote, “This enmity cannot be cured, it must be slain.” You cannot kill it, but die it must. Who is your rival? Who pushes your buttons? Who do you schmooze & flatter? Who do you despise?Are they your brother or sister in Christ? Then your boasting or envy or rivalry is a return to the old man, not resting in the one new man which Christ has made. Are they an unbeliever? Then your envious wrangling with them is trying to erect a wall which Christ broke down. You are to invite those far off to come in close.Outside of Christ the law declares everyone guilty. Apart from the Messiah, everyone is a covenant breaker driven far off from God’s presence. Without Jesus, your passport says you aren’t a citizen. But all your guilt. All your shame. All your rivalry. All your enmity with God & man. It is slain. The only way for all your enmity to die, is if it dies in Christ. This holds true for all who come; even your fiercest rival.

INTRODUCTIONThese two chapters are the hinge of the book of Leviticus, the first half broadly sketching our duties to God (1-17) and the second half our duties to our neighbor (18-27). In this, we see the great indicative/imperative distinction that echoes through the rest of Scripture and Christian theology. We do because of what God has done. We do because of what God has made us to be. So the center of life is the blood of Christ, and everything else flows from there.THE TEXT“… What man soever there be of the house of Israel, that killeth an ox, or lamb, or goat, in the camp, or that killeth it out of the camp, and bringeth it not unto the door of the tabernacle…” (Lev. 17–18).SUMMARY OF THE TEXTGod prohibits His people from offering sacrifices to other gods (Lev. 17:1-7), as well as offering sacrifices in any other place than He designates (17:8-9). God also forbids eating or drinking the blood of animals whether sacrificial animals or animals taken for food, since the life is in the blood (17:10-16). Those who disobey these commands are to be cut off or excommunicated from the covenant people (17:4, 9, 10, 14). Paganism and idolatry are always trying to trick life out of lifeless and dead things, and next to blood, sexual rites are the other common talisman of the nations. So God forbids His people from imitating the sexual confusions of the Egyptians and Canaanites (18:1-17), particularly through tribalistic marriages (18:18), or any other vile perversions (18:19-25). By these, the earth is defiled and vomits out its inhabitants (18:26-30).THE COUNCIL OF JERUSALEMThe council of Jerusalem clearly affirmed the ongoing relevance of these chapters: “For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things; that ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication…” (Acts 15:28-29). While fornication often refers to sex outside of marriage, it also refers to any kind of sexual immorality, which would include all the incestuous prohibitions in our text. While it may have been tempting to dismiss these prohibitions against blood and incest as a lot of archaic oddities in previous decades, these have actually been the marks of paganism throughout history, and they are currently in the process of being mainstreamed again as we speak. The council was not prohibiting eating rare steak, but clearly we may not dismiss these prohibitions as mere ceremonial law. God’s people must always abstain from idolatry, including the bloodlust and sexual deviance that accompanies it.THERE WILL BE BLOODWe should never forget is that it is not whether there will be blood, but which blood, whose blood. The life is in the blood (Lev. 17:11, 14), and in this fallen world man wants to trick life out of blood apart from the God who gives and upholds all life. The fires of Molech (Lev. 18:21) and all abortion is the attempt to trick life out of blood and death. Cultures of sexual deviance are also always cultures of death and dying, and the diseases and ailments and shorter life spans that accompany them are no accident (Lev. 18:22-24). As Romans 1:27 says, they receive the consequences in their own bodies by their actions. It is simply a fact that the widespread culture of piercing and tattooing has also grown out of this bloodshed. Despite great progress in medical science, pseudo-scientific witchcraft is also on the rise. We reject the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ complete ban on blood transfusions, but we absolutely agree that the perennial scientific hubris of man must be rejected: trying to be lord of life and death, especially attempts to conjure up life from the bodies of murdered babies. But we have all this bloodshed because we have rejected the blood of Jesus. We have been embarrassed and ashamed of the blood of Jesus, and so now we have blood running in our streets. It is not whether but which.THE KINGDOM OF GODWhen one extreme rears its ugly head, you can bet that others are preparing their pitch. We live under a regime of statism (worshiping the power of the state), but right on schedule, we have some beginning to preach the power of familialism or tribalism. While statists worship the blood of the sword, another ancient demonic impulse worships the blood of kin, and incest has historically been central to that quest for power. While there are sexual deviants who pursue perversion for mere kicks, we should not be naïve to the power plays at work in the current sexual cesspool. The statists and globalists are currently using sexual deviance to grasp for power, but one reaction to that tyranny collapses into an idolatry of tribe with its own attendant sexual maladies (e.g. polygamy, incest). But we are not tribalists, we are covenantal Christians.Human society is built on flourishing families, but families cannot flourish apart from the blessing of God, apart from the blood of Christ (and neither can nations). The blood of Christ does not obliterate natural affections for family and culture or nation, but natural affection certainly must die and rise again. Jesus said that unless we hate our father and mother, we cannot be His disciples (Lk. 14:26). The Kingdom of God is an international, global, and pentecostal mission. We believe that the nations (as nations) will bring their glories into the New Jerusalem, but those Christian nations will be united by the Spirit of God indwelling them, joint missionary work, tons of neighborly commerce, and boatloads of cousins.CONCLUSIONNever forget that God made the world such that you become what you worship. Psalm 115 says that those who make idols and serve them become like them, and when you reject the Living God, you can only go down. You can only change the glory of the incorruptible God into images of corruptible man, birds, beasts, or creeping things (Rom. 1:23). But when you worship man divorced from His Maker, you are worshipping a man descending into beastlike vulgarity. When you worship animals you become like them.So we are here to worship the Living God who made us, who knows what we are for, and who has come and dwelt among us, so that we might become like Him. Creation itself groans for the redemption of the sons of God because when we worship and act like animals we only harm and misuse creation and so it vomits us out. But the blood of Jesus cleanses every stain, and by His blood we have eternal life. And under that blessing, we work and marry and exercise dominion until the earth is full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit and contrite heart. And you are the living sacrifices offered to God. You do not need to look around for a bull or goat to flay. Your spirit is here to be flayed.But sin is like concrete in your soul that would keep you proud and stiff. And now is the time to purge the concrete from within, to spit out that mud before it hardens, so your spirit can be broken before the Lord. He is the Master craftsman who will renew your spirit, operating on your heart in all the right ways.But before he heals and mends, he must cut. And that cutting involves you telling him all your sins, agreeing with him about your sour attitude, your raised voice, your hot temper, and your bitter resentment. He lances the wound. And your job is to push on it so that all the infection is thoroughly drained. Pride would have your wound fester so that you’d be a contaminated lamb, unworthy of sacrifice to God. Pride would keep you diseased and roaming in the wilderness rather than placed on the temple altar. Pride puffs up, swells up, and whispers to you that you should not lose anything. It makes you afraid of the knife because after the cut, you know you’ll be emptied of something. But the divine knife is removing the infection. And it is sharp enough to cut in just the right places. Christ is that knife, the Word that divides soul and spirit, joints and marrow. If you see that blade without faith, you will fear he tries to kill you and it will all seem like too much. But better things are determined concerning you. So look upon that two-edged sword in faith. Welcome it. And confess it all, every last sin, until it is all out.

INTRODUCTIONThis is our observance of Pentecost, the time we set aside to commemorate the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the Church. There are many things that can be said about all of this, but we sometimes overlook the obvious. Today we should consider the holiness of the Holy Spirit.THE TEXT“For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness. He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given unto us his holy Spirit (1 Thess. 4:7-8).SUMMARY OF THE TEXTIn the verses just prior to this text, the apostle Paul had been emphasizing the need for sexual purity. Then, as now, sexual corruption was readily available, right there for the asking, and Paul urged the Thessalonians to set and maintain a high standard of sexual purity. In the verses that follow this text, Paul is emphasizing the need for brotherly love. Put in one way, we show contempt for the holiness of the Holy Spirit by at least these two means—sins against eros, and sins against agape.Paul makes very clear that we are not called to uncleanness, but rather unto holiness (v. 7). The one who is wiser than the apostle is not showing contempt for a man, but is rather showing contempt for God Himself (v. 8). This is the God, Paul says, who has given to us His Holy Spirit. There is to be a correspondence between the nature of the Spirit given to us, which is holy, and the nature of our lives, which are to be holy.HOLINESS IS PERSONALHoliness is not to be thought of as an abstract standard, or a law detached from covenantal relationship between persons. The Holy Spirit is not an impersonal force, like electricity. He is not some sort of spiritual juice or power that makes us go. He is a Person, in His own right, one member of the triune Godhead. He is the Spirit of both God the Father and God the Son, and He brings with Him all the characteristics of those He indwells, and in whose name He indwells us.It is not possible to vex or grieve an abstraction. “But they rebelled, and vexed his holy Spirit: therefore he was turned to be their enemy, and he fought against them” (Is. 63:10). And the New Testament speaks the same way. “Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you” (Eph. 4:29-32).The Holy Spirit is a Person. He takes aim at things. He kills things. “For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live” (Rom. 8:13)We must consider how we live in light of this kind of personal relationship. “But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land? Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God” (Acts 5:3-4).THE CENTER OF RELATIONSHIPThe central duty in all personal relations is that of love. God the Father loves the Son, and the Son loves the Father. Their mutual love for one another is so strong (remember, this is mutual love between two infinite Persons) is therefore Himself a Spirit of love. “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us” (Rom. 5:1-5).HOLINESS OF MINDThe Spirit is given in order to sanctify a people. The Spirit was poured out in the New Testament in order to sanctify the Gentiles, who previous to this had been a pretty greasy crew. “That I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost” (Rom. 15:16). The point was to set the Gentiles apart from the world, making them part of the holy nation, the royal priesthood.This requires the mind of Christ. When we hear phrases like this (the mind of Christ), we have a tendency (because of false Enlightenment assumptions) to limit this to rolling of propositions around in our brains. But this is not the mind of Christ. A good way to realize this is to begin realizing that there is such a thing as intellectual holiness. We are to be transformed in the renewing of our minds (Rom. 12:1-2). But what is the result? That we may prove in our lives what the will of God is.“Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ” (1 Cor. 2:13-14).“Let not then your good be evil spoken of: For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost” (Rom. 14:16-17). This is what the kingdom of God is.

INTRODUCTIONAs we embark on a new work here in Moscow, we must begin by getting our thinking in line as to how God builds. History is the story of how God built His house. He didn’t do a cost/benefit analysis. He built it despite all the conniving of hell & earth. He built it without outside investors. He built it at the cost of His only Begotten Son. And, as we shall see, He’s now filled it with fire.THE TEXTThen they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls. And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles. And all that believed were together, and had all things common; And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved (Acts 2:41-47).SUMMARY OF THE TEXTAs the miraculous day of Pentecost concluded, the shockwaves were only just beginning. At the end of Peter’s sermon a multitude (3000 to be precise) gladly received his word and were baptized (v41); this is a callback to the first “Pentecost,” when 3000 Israelite idolaters were cut down after the Golden Calf debacle (Ex. 32:28).The early church is described in its corporate worship as being steadfast in the Apostles’ teaching––the basis for their fellowship––breaking the bread, and prayers (v42). The remarkable signs & wonders continued––fulfilling the prophetic word in Joel 2:19, 30––and great awe came upon every soul (v43).Their corporate worship, daily in the temple, spilled over into the rest of life. The Believers were marked by generosity without compulsion, which manifested in a particular care for the host of sojourners in Jerusalem (vs.44-45). Not only did they gather daily in the temple, but also from house to house. The fellowship which they enjoyed through the Apostles’ doctrine spilled over into a joyful singularity of heart (v46), and faithful praise to God. The fruit of their faithful diligence in formal & informal worship & fellowship was favor amongst the people. This, in turn, produced rapid growth (v47).THE GOD WHO SCATTERSThe day of Pentecost is unmistakably mirroring the ancient events which took place at the Tower of Babel. Babel was man’s attempt to climb into heaven to obtain a name for himself. Whereas God had tasked Adam & Eve to fill the world with His glory & name. The project of Babel was to find a unifying principle for the universe in man apart from God. So God scattered this blasphemous work. He confounded their language, fulfilling their worst fears (Gen. 11:4) of being scattering across the face of the earth.This imagery is picked up later in the warnings to Israel, when the Lord threatens them with being scattered due to covenant breaking. “And the LORD shall scatter you among the nations, and ye shall be left few in number among the heathen, whither the LORD shall lead you (Deu. 4:27).” Israel was also to be God’s means of frustrating and scattering the city of man, which we see in their battle hymn, “And it came to pass, when the ark set forward, that Moses said, Rise up, LORD, and let thine enemies be scattered; and let them that hate thee flee before thee (Num 10:35).”When man sets out to build apart from God, and in rivalry to God, God will scatter him. The Hebrew word used for “scatter” means dashing a vessel into a million shattered pieces. When man sets himself in rivalry to God the end result isn’t unity, it’s all the unity of a tornado in a trailer park. If Israel, the household of God, abandoned God and sought to build the kingdom apart from their Covenant King, the result would be what we find in the book of Acts: an Israel scattered to the four winds.GATHERED TOGETHER IN CHRISTThe nations which are represented at Pentecost echoes the Table of Nations in Genesis 10. These Seventy nations had been scattered and frustrated in their opposition to God’s redemptive purposes. Now, however, these scattered nations, represented by Jews from the Diaspora, are gathered together as one by the mighty work of the Spirit.Peter warned the Pentecost crowd to flee from this wicked generation (Acts 2:40), referring to unbelieving Israel, which itself had become a new Babel, of sorts. The Lord Jehovah who’d descended upon Altars, and the Tabernacle/Temple as a flaming fire (Cf. Gen. 15:17, Lev. 9:24, Jdg. 13:20, 1 Kg. 18:38,  1Ch 21:26, 2Ch 7:1ff), now sent His Spirit to dwell in a house of people; even people from all nations.What marked these early Christians as a result of the Spirit’s working? Fidelity to the Gospel as taught by the Apostles, fellowship, breaking the bread, prayers both spoken and sung, hospitality, glad simplicity, and praise to God.This was (and is) the secret sauce to church growth. Modern Christians think they can build the kingdom of God by using the bricks of Babel. We see it in the way evangelical leaders capitulate to the talking points of godless politicians. We see it in the way worship services are turned into entertainment events. We see it in how the plain Word of the Gospel is dulled and blunted in order to nuzzle into the same space as Oprah, Dr. Phil, and the self-care counselors on TikTok. We see it in the way we ignore the plain command to show hospitality, considering it an inconvenience to our personal schedule and possessions.But God gathers people into His house by the faithful preaching of the scandal of the Gospel. The house of Israel crucified Jesus, the promised Messiah, the rejected cornerstone. But God wasn’t thwarted in His purpose. That same Jesus was now exalted to be the true & eternal King of Israel. His first act was to accompany the preaching of His Kingdom with the power of the Spirit to enable His citizens to joyfully obey their King.FILLED UP TO WORK OUTThe Spirit was poured out, and the people weren’t idle. Just as the Spirit equipped the ancient saints with skill to build the tabernacle, the Spirit now fills His people to build a temple of people. People in whom God pleases to dwell. The Spirit’s outpouring became a flood of good works: fellowship, praise, covenant faithfulness, hospitality, and simplicity of heart.So, what is the work that God has set in front of you to do? The progression of our text makes one thing plain, the Apostles’ doctrine was inseparable from the practice of the saints. The Word went forth, and the people lived out the Word. The works of righteousness followed the Word of the Righteous One.Nothing, in principle, has been altered since that day of Pentecost. The description of the early church is what the true church is & always shall be defined by. Pentecost displays in vivid detail how God builds. God builds by scattering the proud and their vain imaginations. Then, just because He can, He gathers up the humble as a house of people.God then filled that house with fire. The Spirit’s fire equips the saints with His presence, the presence of the Almighty. Thus we’re enabled to minister in His house. God’s household isn’t a silent, empty cathedral; it’s full of the bustle & hum of joyful saints busy with sacred work.And what is that work? Our first duty is to believe the Apostles’ teaching: God has made Jesus, whom the House of Israel crucified, both Lord & Christ (Acts. 2:36). Secondly, we faithfully worship. Third, we throw the best parties.

We live in a land full of religious people who don’t know Jesus, who have not died, whose lives are not hid with Christ in God, and therefore, they cannot set their minds on things above and therefore they cannot put to death the sins in their flesh. Those who go through religious motions are hypocrites because they know that they cannot actually stop sinning. They talk about sin and grace, but they don’t actually know what those words mean. But those who have met Jesus, who have truly been born again know that Jesus has ascended into Heaven, and they know this because they have miraculously been able to put their sin to death.

IntroductionWhenever we discuss the incarnation of Christ, or His death and resurrection, or His ascension, we are talking about something that is much more important than simple location. We are not just interested in certain powerful works that He performed, but rather are interested in the meaning of those works. In the ascension of Christ, we are not interested in how He moved from here to there. His ascension was the occasion of His investiture to cosmic office. In other words, we are called upon to live our lives here in the light of His transcendental authority. And so this brings us to consider the ethical ramifications of the ascension of Christ.The skeptic may want to allege that we are talking fairy tales about a divine being going up to a sky castle. But if we hear the story correctly, our response should be, “Man, that’s ethically serious.”The Text“If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry” (Col. 3:1–5).Summary of the TextThe Scriptures teach us that Christ is the archetypal man, the Adam of a new race, the representative of all who have faith in Him. Just as we all sinned when Adam ate the forbidden fruit, because he was our representative and federal head, so also the obedience of Christ is our obedience—on the same grounds. He is an Adam, our federal head. By faith, we experience everything He experiences. When He died, we died (Gal. 2:20). When He was buried in the cave, we were buried in the cave with Him (Rom. 6:4). When He rose from the dead, we rose from the dead in Him (Eph.2:5-6). And to the point of our celebration today, when He ascended into the heavenly spheres, we ascended together with Him (Eph. 2:6). From His suffering, which is ours by grace, to His glory, which is also ours by more grace, the whole story is one of a salvation on earth which is anchored in the heavens. It began there, and it ends there.So turning to our text, if we in fact are risen with Christ, then this should orient us to those things which are above (v. 1). The location of this “above” is identified as the right hand of God, where Christ is seated (v. 1). The Colossians are told to set their affections there, and not down here on the earth (v. 2). The reason for this is their prior participation in the death of Christ (v. 3), and as a consequence, their life is hidden with Christ in God (v. 3). Our life is hidden with Christ, and Christ is in fact that life. When Christ, who is our life, comes again in glory, then we will be manifested there with Him in that glory (v. 4). And so here we see the ethical ramifications of the ascension. Mortify, put to death, Paul says, your members which are down here on the earth (v. 5). He then lists those members, all of which appear to be sexual in nature—fornication, uncleanness, inordinate passion, evil desire, and covetousness—which amounts to idolatry (v. 5). One of the central reasons why our generation is caught in a morass of sexual deviance is because we have forgotten the transcendent reality of Christ’s rule.A Hard JuxtapositionBecause of the work Christ has done on our behalf, we have a new identity in Him. Because of this work, the old man has been crucified, and reigning sin no longer has dominion. This is why Paul can address this letter to the “saints and faithful brethren” in Christ (Col. 1:2). This is who they are. But they (and we) still have to deal with remaining sin, and that is what Paul is dealing with here—our members which are on the earth.Three MortificationsSo when it comes to the Christian life, there are three mortifications that we have to understand. To mortify means to put to death.The first mortification occurs at conversion, when God by His grace puts the old man to death. “And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts” (Gal. 5:24). This occurs when God rototills a weed patch, transforming it into a garden.The second kind of mortification occurs here, in our text. Paul is addressing saints who are already saints, but who have allowed certain weeds to grow up in their garden. But this is a garden, not a weed patch any more, and so the weeds must be put to death. “Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth” (Col. 3:5). The command here is an aorist imperative, meaning that it is a definitive, over and done kind of action. Kill those weeds.The third kind of mortification is a daily thing, an ongoing thing. “For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live” (Rom. 8:13). So if we continue with the gardening metaphor, this is a mortification of weeds that a good gardener performs, as she goes out every morning at 5 am to weed. It has never been the case (when a good gardener does this) that she comes back with nothing.Gunk in Your BrainsSomeone who is being moral isn’t thinking about how moral he is. Being moral and being moralistic are quite different. Moralism is a fussy sort of business, avoiding things that it wishes it didn’t have to avoid. Moralism suspects that the non-believers out there are having a good time, and wants to put a stop to it. At the end of the day, moralism is frankly impotent.The liberating power of grace is found in this. God wants you to contrast your affections on things above with your inordinate affection for things below. He wants you to put them into the same sentence. He wants you to set the transcendence of the risen Christ on one side of the balances, and your favorite porn site on the other. He wants you to evaluate your life with a Temple measure.Your members which are on the earth have this resilient characteristic—nothing earthly can put them to death. No sword fashioned down here on earth can penetrate the hide of any of these creatures—every blow glances off.You are the saints of God, which means that you have gunk in your brains. Do not be astonished at this. You are saints and faithful brethren, just like the Colossians. They had gunk in their brains too. But notice what Paul is up to here. He does not say to leave the gunk behind because that gunk is sinful and bad. That is true enough, but it doesn’t work. He says to leave it behind because Christ has ascended into the heavenlies, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

INTRODUCTIONSelf-deception is truly an interesting psychological phenomenon. I mean, whenever it occurs in your life, that means that you are the one lied to, and you are the liar, and you buy it. “Seems reasonable,” you mutter to yourself.Now at one level, Scripture teaches that every form of sin, disobedience or unbelief is a form of self-deception. You are living in the world that God made, with all of His self-disclosure operating, and yet you are steadfastly telling yourself that the world isn’t really like that.“The way of a fool is right in his own eyes: But he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise” (Proverbs 12:15). “There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet is not washed from their filthiness” (Proverbs 30:12). Sin is the refusal to see your relationship to God and His world for what it actually is, and so it is a form of self-deception.THE TEXT“He feedeth on ashes: A deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?” (Isaiah 44:20).SUMMARY OF THE TEXTIsaiah is speaking the plain stupidity that cuts down a tree (v. 14), and which uses a portion of the wood to keep himself warm, and to cook his food, on the one hand (v. 15), and from the rest of the wood he carves an object of adoration (vv. 15, 17, 19).A deceived heart is turned aside, meaning that a deceived heart is both deceived and deceiving. The end result is that the idol he has fashioned to deliver him will be unable to deliver him. He should have known this already because he carved his savior out of a piece of wood that he cut down himself.FOUR KINDS OF SELF-DECEPTIONWe have already seen that all sins are self-deception at some level, but there are certain forms of it that might be called “high-profile” instances of self-deception.Forgetful neglect of application: “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was . . . If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain” (James 1:22-24, 26). The deception occurs in between the sermon and the moment this afternoon when application is called for.Assumption of innocence: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8). Everyone here is encased in a first-person-singular narrative. And everyone here has a strong impulse to trust the narrator, which is a bad idea.Neglect of holiness: “Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness. And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain” (1 Corinthians 3:18–20). We are very prone to self-deception when it comes to the moral demands of the free grace gospel. “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Corinthians 6:9–10).Self-serving flattery: “For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself” (Gal. 6:3). Every man wants to be the hero in his own story, and casting yourself in that role is the very worst way of accomplishing this.A BAD MARRIAGE OR A BAD ATTITUDENot all Christian marriages are successful. Some really thrive, most are pretty okay, some struggle along, and a handful are what we would call “bad marriages.” If you would put yourself in that category, I want to suggest one more division that I hope you might find helpful.One kind of bad marriage is the result of a real mismatch of persons. The conflicts and difficulties arise out of the clashes between very different perspectives. The communicate poorly and problems result. They assume too much in opposite directions and problems result. This does happen, and a lot of good pastoral help is available—in Scripture, with counselors, with good literature.But the intractable problems are, in my experience, not strictly speaking bad marriages at all. The marriage is just the location where the badness is manifesting itself. What would you think of someone who gave a restaurant a savage one-star review on Yelp, and if you asked him why he did that, the response was that while he was there he got the worst toothache of his life? You should say, yeah, that wasn’t a bad restaurant experience. It was a bad experience in a restaurant.Intractable marriages problems are often intractable problems in a marriage, not the result of the marriage.PRIDE, THE GREAT ENEMYWhen a self-deceived person marries, they are moving into a room filled with excuses. Opportunities for misdirection and blame-shifting abound. Remember that the heart is deceitful above all things (Jer. 17:9). The thing that deceives such a person is the pride of his heart (Oba. 3), and remember that pride goes before destruction (Prov. 16:18). The self-deceived husband compares himself to himself, and the wife measures herself with herself (2 Cor. 10:12). These are not wise.I am talking about (and to) the husband who is sullen, grouchy, and angry all the time. He tells himself is not angry all the time because he is not yelling all the time, which tells us how much he knows about it. I am talking about (and to) the wife who is a lazy and undisciplined, and if any real work threatens to intrude, she is sure to develop a serious malady with ambiguous symptoms. These two examples are stand-ins for countless others. The problem, the central problem, is self-deception.THE MIRROR OF CHRISTThe only remedy for such self-deception is to see yourself accurately, and this can only be done by looking into the perfect law of liberty (Jas. 1:5). But this should not be understood as a detached list of rules. Christ is the end (telos) of the law (Rom. 10:4). Your identity is in Christ. If you look at yourself there, in the mirror of Christ, you do not just see Christ. You also see yourself, perhaps for the very first time.

The Father bestows Christ’s name upon you, and by His Spirit enables you to walk as Jesus did. This means you must walk in the light, and put off the deeds of darkness. In other words, the primary challenge for Christians is to live like they are, in fact, Christians. You cannot do so on the strength, authority, or renown of your own name. Overcoming sin & walking in holiness, whether individually or nationally, can only be done in the name of Jesus. This can all be summed by saying we believe that Christians ought to be born again.