The Age of the Spirit

In the scriptures there is a definite link between the Holy Spirit and the inauguration of the new covenant. Peter makes this point in his sermon on the day of Pentecost. When those on whom the Spirit has fallen are accused of being drunk by some in the crowd Peter says: "These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It's only nine in the morning! No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel" 'In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy'" (Acts 2:15-18).

This is hardly a surprise if we have read the biblical story to this point. The Spirit of God is linked to the first creation in Genesis 1:2 and he is linked to the new creation in Luke 1:35. The messianic age anticipated in the Old Testament is one that will be marked by a new work of the Spirit that transcends his work in the past. The racial and tribal structure of the old covenant in which God dealt primarily with people from one ethnic group and with these people through prophets, priests and kings is replaced with an international community of people who are all prophets, priests and kings of God. Furthermore, there is an equality of the Spirit's distribution and an intimacy of knowledge and experience that is the portion of God's people who live on this side of the life, death, resurrection and ascension of the last Adam and the true Israel - the Lord Jesus Christ. In my opinion more work needs to be done to work out and express the practical implications of these new covenant realities in present day church life.

Sabbath Rest

The first time the 'Sabbath' is mentioned in Genesis 2:2-4 (cf. Hebrews 4:4) it is in connection with God resting on the seventh day from all of his work and celebrating all that he had done. There is no mention of 'evening and morning' at the end of this day the way there was at the end of all the other days (cf. 1:5,8,13,19,23,31) because God would have continued to enjoy all that he had created, and particularly human beings who were made in his image. This was a time in which the first man and women enjoyed fellowship with God in a garden where God walked and talked with them in the cool of the day. But the enjoyment of God's rest was ruined by sin. When Adam and Eve turned their backs on God their fellowship with God was broken, as well as their relationship with one another and with the world that God had made, and they failed to remain in God's rest. The subsequent story of salvation which is rooted in the sheer grace and mercy of God is the story of regaining what was lost, and in fact, much more than what was originally lost in the Eden. Or to put it another way, it is about re-entry into God's rest. Because that rest was lost by sin, re-entry into it must be connected to Jesus Christ and his work of salvation. It cannot be otherwise. Jesus is the only mediator between God and man and he is the only one who can bring us back into fellowship with the triune God.

Given these very basic biblical-theological perimeters it is not surprising that Jesus claims to be 'Lord of the Sabbath' in Matthew 12:8 in a passage in which he is battling the Pharisees who do not understand who he really is and what he has come to do. They do not see that the Sabbath they think they are keeping and honoring by all of their rules and regulations is not really the Sabbath at all. If they knew who Jesus was as the Lord of the Sabbath - not only the one who has authority over it, but the one brings all that it promises to pass - they would not be passing judgement on him but instead they would follow and learn from him. And later in the New Testament it is not surprising that the writer of Hebrews links the Sabbath to salvation rest in Christ which can be enjoyed now and will be ultimately realized in the age to come (cf. Hebrews 3-4). All of this means that we 'keep the Sabbath' when we turn to Christ and rest in him for salvation. In this way our fellowship with God is restored and there is the promise of even greater fellowship in the new heavens and earth.

Going back to issues of continuity/discontinuity - is the Sabbath binding on Christians today? In a sense 'yes' and in another sense 'no.' We are not bound to the sabbath command as articulated in the Mosaic law since that command was never intended to be an end in itself but anticipated something greater which has come in Christ. But we are bound to the command as it is fulfilled by Jesus Christ because we must turn from our sins and be reconciled with God or we will be cut off from the true covenant people of God. Under the old covenant (the Mosaic covenant) sabbath violations were punished by death. No one advocates the death penalty in such cases today, and rightly so, but there is a profound sense in which those who will not make peace with God through his Son will be condemned and cut off from him forever. In this sense the Sabbath is moral and binding. What determines continuity or discontinuity is Jesus Christ. He is the one who teaches us what the scriptures mean and how they apply to us.

The first day of the week is just about upon me and I have lots of work to do tomorrow... so enough for now! :-)

Bethel Baptist/TBS Spring Seminar

This coming Saturday, May 15 and Sunday, May 16, Bethel Baptist Church in Fergus Ontario is organizing and hosting a joint Bethel Baptist/TBS Spring Seminar on the church in the 21st Century. My good friend and colleague Dr. Michael Haykin and I, along with Pastor Paul Hudson of Bethel, will be speaking on a variety of subjects related to the church.

The program is as follows:

Saturday
9:00-9:50           What is the Church? Biblical Metaphors - Kirk Wellum
10:10-11:00       The Mission of the Church - Dr. Michael Haykin
11:15-12:00       The Church as a Centre of Love - Dr. Michael Haykin

Sunday
9:30-11:00         Jesus: The Great Builder of the Church - Kirk Wellum
11:15-12:00       Bible Study: Spirit-filled - Paul Hudson

Bethel Baptist Church located at:
675 Victoria Terrace
Fergus, ON N1M 2G6

The Church Office Phone is: 

(519) 843-2890

The Sabbath as a Test Case

Another place where the continuity/discontinuity issue appears is in regard to the interpretation of the 10 commandments and particularly the sabbath commandment. Like baptism, how one interprets of the ten words of Moses (as they are sometimes called) and the fourth commandment regarding the sabbath, reveals how one reads the Bible as a whole and understands God's progressive revelation of himself that is found therein. The 10 commandments are often lifted out of their historical context in the Mosaic Law and then applied as the universally binding moral law of God with little explanation and without regard for their original covenantal setting. The only reason people get away with this kind of a-historical interpretive insensitivity (one could almost say 'violence') is because 9 of the 10 commandments undergo little or no change as they move from promise to fulfillment, or from the Mosaic covenant to the new covenant. But this is not true of the sabbath. Unless one believes that the sixth day - or Saturday - is the Christian day of rest (which is incorrect), everyone recognizes that there is covenantal change that is taking place as we move across redemptive history. Some interpreters account for this change by claiming that the 'moral demand' of the fourth commandment is to rest 'one day in seven' as opposed to the 6th day. But this is not what the text says and this is not how the commandment is interpreted in the New Testament.

The sabbath commandment, like all of the ten commandments, like all of the Mosaic Law, like all of the Law and the Prophets, look forward to the coming of Christ and all that he will do as the God-man to fulfill the rich and multi-faceted purposes of God. Passages like Matthew 5:17-20 and Matthew 11:11-13 and Matthew 13:52 teach this explicitly if we are prepared to really listen to what they are saying. And it is the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ as that ministry is explained by this apostles that shows us how the sabbath, and indeed the whole Old Testament, applies in these days of fulfillment in which we are living as we await the consummation of all things. In the case of the sabbath, this explains why there is not a single mention of the sin of sabbath breaking in the apostolic letters even though the gospel is exploding into the the Gentile world. This silence is deafening especially since writers like Paul write to tell us "how people ought to conduct themselves in God's household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth" (1 Timothy 3:15). Furthermore, this silence must be accounted for because it strongly suggests that the "fulfillment" of the fourth commandment is much more than just the reapplication of the old sabbath legislation to a new day of the week. Enough for now... I have other things to do... :-)

To be continued...

A Story Within A Story

One important thing to remember when it comes to the unfolding story of redemption is the fact that God's calling of Israel is part of a larger plan to save his people from the lost sons and daughters of Adam. Israel and the church are not two distinct peoples of God as if he has two peoples and a separate plan for each. Nor is Israel the start of the gospel story so that God's covenant with Israel controls his covenantal dealings with the church minus the so called 'ceremonial' part of the Mosaic law with its priesthood and sacrifices which are fulfilled in Christ. Rather God's dealings with Israel are part of a larger story. God has chosen a people whom he will redeem in Christ. These people will be gathered in from all the nations in his own time as a result of his sovereign grace.

This has been God's intention from the very beginning. God's calling of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were the first steps in a series of steps that ultimately culminate many years later in the new covenant after much more detail has been added along the way. With each step God reveals more and more of his gracious redemption but it is not until we get to Jesus Christ and the new covenant that he inaugurated, and that is expounded by the apostles after his death, resurrection, ascension and the outpouring of the Spirit, that we clearly see what he has been doing all along.

The true nature of Israel and the church and what it means to be part of the covenant people of God is only fully explicated in Jesus Christ. He is the one who establishes continuity and discontinuity. Once this is seen we can make sense of both the Old and New Testaments. And - in terms of this post - we can avoid the mistake of separating Israel and the church as if there is very little relationship between them, or confusing Israel and the church as if they are basically the same entities under two different administrations of a 'covenant of grace.'

Continuity/Discontinuity

As I travel around speaking at different churches and talking to Christians from a variety of backgrounds I find that there is a lot of confusion when it comes to how the Bible is put together. Few ministries adequately teach people how to read their Bibles for themselves and pastors/teachers are so often bent on finding 'practical applications' that they move too quickly from the text to application without showing their listeners how they made the jump.

In evangelical circles 'dispensationalism' and 'covenant theology' are two popular ways of trying to make sense of the Old and New Testaments and God's plan of salvation revealed therein. Both 'systems' have undergone significant change over the years as their proponents have wrestled with the biblical text -- and this is a good thing because our systems must always give way to the scriptures properly interpreted. Both systems have some merit and contribute to our understanding of the Bible, but both have serious drawbacks that need to be corrected. As in so many areas of life the respective strengthens and weaknesses of the two positions lie close together - the strength of dispensationalism being that it sees significant discontinuity between the Old and New Testaments and the strength of covenant theology being that it sees significant continuity between the testaments. The weakness of both positions is that they tend to see either too much discontinuity as in the case of dispensationalism, or too much continuity as in the case of covenant theology. It is important to see that there is both continuity and discontinuity as we move through the scriptures to the inauguration of the new covenant in Christ. Failure to see this accounts for many of the things that keep Christians apart denominationally and keeps us from reading and profiting from the complete Bible as an integrated whole. It is not a matter of one group reading the Old or New Testament better than the other, both groups misread both testaments if they read the Bible with their dispensational or covenant glasses on.

In coming posts I will continue to unpack some of these issues in the hope that those who are interested will profit and that a new consensus will be forged that takes us beyond some of the tired old debates that need to be laid to rest. Everybody talks about "sola scriptura" - the time has come for us to make sure we are all thinking God's thoughts after him and not merely rehearsing revered but inadequate theological conceptions.

Time To Get On With It

There continues to be confusion as to how the Old and New Testaments fit together and no where is this more evident than when people suggest that baptism is not important when it comes to church membership. In one sense baptism is a secondary fundamental issue, which means that is it not a primary fundamental issue, or something that is necessary for salvation. There are primary and secondary issues and it is important to know the difference. Because baptism is a secondary issue some people think that those who believe in believer's baptism and those who believe in paedo-baptism can exist as members within the same local congregation. If baptism is not of primary importance - or so the argument goes - then why should a particular view of baptism be required of those who want to join an evangelical church? This seems like a good question until one looks a little deeper. While baptism is not necessary for salvation, one's view of baptism says volumes about how one reads and interprets the scriptures at key points - and these differences are not as benign as many imagine.

For instance, a person's convictions about baptism - assuming they have been worked out from the scriptures - reveal how one understands covenants in the Bible and what role they play in the redemptive purposes of God. Is there such a thing as single "covenant of grace" that comes to us in two different administrations, or should we read the numerous covenants sequentially with each one building upon the other until we come to the new covenant which is centered in the person and work of Jesus Christ who is the key to interpreting all that has gone before? Is the gospel equivalent to the covenant that God made with Abraham in book of Genesis, or is the Abrahamic covenant one of a series of covenants that lead us to Christ? Is the church composed of 'believers only' or 'believers and their children?' Is there such a thing as 'covenant children' in the new covenant and if there are how do we preach the gospel to them? I could go on and on because the theological assumptions and interpretive decisions that under-gird both positions are substantial with far reaching ecclesiastical and pastoral implications. It is naive to suggest otherwise and those with any degree of pastoral experience should know better.

Furthermore, in my experience there is often a completely different tone and feeling in congregation that has come to see and glory in the work of Jesus Christ as that work is progressively revealed in the scriptures from beginning to end culminating in the new covenant revelation. Those who do not see that the coming of Christ and the fulfillment of God's saving purposes in him bring about a redefinition of the people of God do not see and experience things as they should. The church is not a mixed multitude like Israel of old. It is a community of the redeemed and the new humanity that God has chosen in Christ. When people come to know this and see where it is taught in the scriptures there is a joy and understanding of the totality of scripture that can quite literally be felt. In the long run we are not doing anyone any favors by obscuring these important matters. It is spiritually irresponsible to dance around these issues as if they do not matter. Both positions cannot be true. Error is never spirituality beneficial or glorifying to God, especially when by now there is no reason why these matters should be so consistently misunderstood.

Revival 'Postscript'

Dr. Michael Haykin and I had a great time at the Bible conference at Greenwood Avenue Baptist Church in North Bay. The theme of the conference was "Revival" and we looked at what it is and what it is not and why we need it today. The combination of the biblical/theological and the historical brought into sharp focus the true nature of revival as living in the abundance of new covenant blessings in Christ as that abundance is sovereignly poured out on God's people by the Holy Spirit. In these days it is so important to tie revival to the Bible and then to illustrate it from biblical and subsequent church history. It is our prayer that God will allow us to experience this gift of his grace in our day.

We were also very encouraged to see and hear what God is doing in North Bay at Greenwood Avenue Baptist Church under the leadership of Pastor Tim Hawman and in other churches and Brethren Assemblies in the area. There is a tremendous spirit of enthusiasm and cooperation and God is adding to 'outposts of heaven' new Christians who want to grow in their knowledge of God and his word. Both Dr. Haykin and I were reminded of the fact that God is sovereign when it comes to when and where he works and at the same time he is so gracious in the way he blesses his people.

Revival and the Sovereignty of God

At the upcoming conference this weekend in North Bay I have been asked to speak on revival and the sovereignty of God. This is an important topic because the sovereignty of God is not well understood even though the terminology has become more popular of late. In the Bible the sovereignty of God is always presented along with two other great truths, namely, the moral responsibility of human beings and the wonderful fact that God is good. When all three truths are taken into consideration the link between the sovereignty of God and revival is relatively straightforward.

Because revival involves the awakening and renewal of the human person only the sovereign God of the Bible can bring it about. The good news is that he is able to do so because he is transcendently sovereign and he is willing to bless us in this way because he is good and gracious. Furthermore, since he has made us morally responsible creatures we should not be surprised that he has a role for us to play and a work for us to do in this regard. While God could do everything by himself, the Lord of the harvest delights to use people like you and I to accomplish his purposes. Thus a proper understanding of God's sovereignty pulls several important biblical strands together in a way that inspires awe, calls for human action, and leads to God being glorified in his people forever and ever.

In the words of the King David: "Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom. One generation commends your works to another; they tell of your mighty acts." (Psalm 145:3-4)

Revive Us Again

Revival is a concept longed for in the Old Testament and realized in the New Testament in and through the work of Jesus Christ with the ultimate fulfillment to come in the new earth. Psalm 85 is a song of the sons of Korah that looks forward to the day when love and faithfulness meet together and righteousness and peace kiss each other. There is much more going on here than meets the eye especially when the psalm is read in light of God's glorious provision in Christ.

You, Lord, show favor to your land; you restored the fortunes of Jacob.
You forgave the iniquity of your people and covered all their sins.
You set aside all your wrath and turned from your fierce anger.
Restore us again, God our Saviour, and put away your displeasure toward us.
Will you be angry with us forever?
Will you prolong your anger through all generations?
Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you?
Show us your unfailing love, Lord, and grant us your salvation.
I will listen to what God the Lord says; he promises peace to his people,
his faithful servants -- but let them not turn to folly.
Surely his salvation is near those who fear him,
that his glory may dwell in our land.
Love and faithfulness meet together;
righteousness and peace kiss each other.
Faithfulness springs forth from the earth,
and righteousness looks down from heaven.
The Lord will indeed give what is good, and our land will yield its harvest.
Righteousness goes before him and prepares the way for his steps.

Psalm 85

Revival

This week in preparation for the conference on the weekend I am reflecting on the subject of revival. Revival is one of those words that is thrown around in Christian circles and yet when you ask people what they mean by it you quickly become aware that it means different things to different people. Revival is not a word found in the Bible and consequently great care must be taken when it comes to linking the word to the teaching of scripture. I believe it can be done - otherwise I would not be writing and speaking on revival - but I think it must be done with an awareness of what the Bible says about God's plan of salvation and how it culminates in the new covenant which is centered in Jesus. Regardless of the theology of revival, one thing is sure and that is that we need God to revive his people. In the words of the old gospel song, "Mercy drops round us are falling, but for the showers we plead."

Today there is a famine for the hearing of the words of God. You cannot go into any church in any community and be confident that you will hear the word of God. You may hear funny stories or interesting anecdotes or theological musings or pop-psychology, but you will not necessarily hear the word of God which is centered in Jesus proclaimed with clarity and power. By all accounts Christianity is in a state of decline in this part of the world. Each year fewer and fewer people attend church and the influence of Christianity wanes in the society at large. All this is evidence of the need for revival. We need God to breath new life into his people and his church. We need him to pour out in abundance the Holy Spirit and the blessings of the new covenant that are promised to us now that Christ has ascended on high. This is revival - biblically defined - and this is what we need more than anything else. When I was a boy I knew an evangelist who used to say: "The church began with holy men of God in the upper room agonizing and it will end with educated men in the supper room organizing!" Making allowance for preacher hyperbole I think he has hit the nail on the head. In these days we need God to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves.

Blooming Where We're Planted

At the TBS graduation on Friday night Pastor A. Wayne Lowe from Faith Bible Church spoke on being a good soldier of Jesus Christ from 2 Timothy 2:1-10. It was a clear and challenging address that confronted the graduates, and indeed all Christians, with the need to serve the Lord with all our minds, hearts and strength, and not to quit. I have been thinking about Paul's words to Timothy ever since and today I wanted to say something about another metaphor found in the same passage, that of the "hardworking farmer" (2 Timothy 2:6). In particular I am drawn to the word "hardworking" because I think it is possible to busy oneself and therefore appear to be hardworking when we are not working as diligently as we should at what we should be doing! This happens when we are distracted by things that may not be wrong in of themselves, but which lead us away from our central calling and responsibilities.

In local church ministry this is often seen when men who have been called to study and preach the word are distracted with setting up organizational structures. A certain amount of organization is needed to do God's work but too much organization can paralyze a ministry and rob it of freshness and power that can only be found in God. In addition to this God calls gospel ministers to work hard and oftentimes to work alone. Good leaders know when to delegate tasks to others but today I think there is a trend toward too much delegation so that everyone else is doing the work of ministry but the minister himself. The pastor must pray, he must read and study the scriptures, he must share the faith with others -- and he must not fool himself into thinking that he is doing these things if he has merely delegated them to someone on his staff. Ministry is hard work and part of the hard work is slugging it out in the same place year after year.

Related to this is the degree to which men need to be "freed up" in order to minister elsewhere. Every situation is different and there is no one rule that governs all in this regard, but generally speaking the pastor's primary responsibility is the specific group of people God has given him to serve. They should get the very best of his labors and strength. If, he has something to share with those beyond his flock, God will make that clear and that will have to be organized in a way that does not harm the church. But more often than not, his job is to be there with his people and not gallivanting all over the place sharing his wisdom with others. Again, this requires hard work. It is not easy to minister in the same place year and year and still have something to say. It is much easier to take it on the road and to leave the church to one's assistants. As in so many areas what is required is balance. Too many times I fear that we are too easily distracted by setting up and then constantly tweaking organizations or by travelling here and there that we fail to fulfill the call of God on our lives to "bloom where we are planted."