Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in
heaven. — Matt. 5:11-16
Excerpts from book (free download of book at link on right):
Page 356 - In the previous chapter we focused on the supreme passion of Jesus, his Father, and the Holy Spirit.....Which brings us now to the demand, “Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 5:16).
Page 357 - What people see from the outside is our “good works.” But that is not who we are. The good works have a light source from inside. The key to understanding what the light is that shines out through good works is the aim of the works, namely, that people see and give glory to God......What Actually Is the Light That People See? So what does it mean then that we are the light of the world? How do good deeds grow from who we are in such a way that they make God look glorious?
Page 358 - Therefore, I conclude that what is most salty and bright in this insipid and dark world is the almost incomprehensible joy of Jesus’ followers in the midst of persecution
and the hardships of life.......In order to waken people to consider God as an explanation for our good works there generally must be an obstacle of suffering that would ordinarily cause them to be angry or despairing, but does not have that effect on us. Rather they see us “rejoice” in hardship....this hardship does not make us self-centered and selfpitying and mean-spirited......they see our joy and wonder what we are hoping in when ordinary props for hope have been knocked away. The answer.......we have great reward in heaven (Matt. 5:12) ......when persecution take natural pleasures away, we still have Jesus......joy......when our good works get their flavor from this salt and glow with this light, the world may well be awakened to taste something they have never tasted before.......the glory of God in Jesus.
Page 359 - The supremacy of the value of the glory of God is seen in the way Jesus makes the demand of Matthew 5:16......He explicitly says that our aim in doing good works for others is that they might glorify God......people who talk much of love but are not God-centered the way Jesus is say things like, “If you do good to people to get them to glorify your God, you are not loving them, for you have ulterior motives.” This kind of criticism results from a failure to experience the glory of God as the greatest gift and highest joy imaginable.
In his darkest hour he let his light shine most brightly in a “good work.”
Page 360 - From beginning (John 2:11) to end (John 12:28) Jesus let his light shine—did his
good works—to vindicate and display the glory of God.......This was the final, greatest, and most satisfying gift obtained by Jesus in the “good work” that he did on the cross. This will make no sense at all to a person who does not see and savor the glory of God above all other gifts. But for those who have renounced all that this world offers (Luke 14:33) and set their heart on the “great reward” in heaven, namely, the enjoyment of the glory of Jesus, Jesus’ purchase of this reward at the cost of his life will be the greatest act of love imaginable. When Jesus calls us to let our light shine that others may see our good deeds and glorify God, he is calling us to join him in the work he came to do.......Jesus simply takes it for granted that his disciples will make God look good in the way they die. The only question is, how will we die?
Page 361 - In other words, if God rules over how the birds die, how much more surely will he govern your death..........The final great historical display of Jesus’ shining light—and ours—
happens at his second coming. ......What about for us? What will his second coming mean for us?
It turns out that letting our light shine will be our eternal vocation. We will never cease to have this calling. This is why we were created: to be so satisfied with our great reward, the glory of God in Jesus, that we reflect his infinite worth in acts of love that cause others to see and savor and show more of the glory of God.....This is our final destiny. Beholding the glory of Jesus (John 17:24), we will shine with the beauty and the love that he has.
Page 362 - Jesus’ demand to the world is that all human beings find in him the all-satisfying glory for which we were made.....that we turn from trusting in anything else and bank our hope on the great reward of everlasting joy in him.....that we let that light shine in sacrificial good deeds of love, so that others will see and savor and spread the glory of God.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Demand #47: Let Your Light Shine Before Others That They May Glorify Your Father Who Is In Heaven
You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your
Father who is in heaven. — Matt. 5:13-16
Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its saltiness, how will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another. — Mark 9:50
Exerpts:
The demand that we let our light shine before the world has a goal: that people might give glory to our Father who is in heaven. So ultimately, the demand is that we seek to glorify God by
letting our light shine.
Page 351 - The first thing that Jesus demands that we pray is that our Father’s name be hallowed. (Matt. 6:9). In saying this, Jesus signals that his first passion is—and our first passion should be—the manifest holiness of God.....the Greek word behind “hallowed be” is built on the word for “holy” (ag{ io~)...when you turn the word “holy” into a verb like this, it means to “show
yourself holy”—hence the idea of manifest holiness....another way to speak of the manifest holiness of God is to speak of his glory.
Nothing in the universe is more valuable than the glory of God. Seeing the connection between the hallowing of God’s name as the first passion of Jesus and the glory of God as the supreme value in the universe shows that there is no conflict between these two.
What Is the Glory of God? God’s glory is the radiance of his manifold perfections. Those are
poor words for the richest reality of all....God’s glory is the outshining of the infinite value of all that God is....It is visible to the physical eye only as the glorious created world points to its invisible but more glorious Maker. “Consider the lilies of the field. . . . "
Page 352 - It is meant to get our attention and waken us to a glory of which lily-glory is only a likeness. We love to look at glory. We were made to enjoy seeing it. This is why Jesus came into the world. He came to reveal the glory of God more fully than nature ever had (John 1:14)..to die in our place so that we could be saved from God’s wrath...to awaken in us a desire for that glory... Jesus consciously aimed to reveal the glory of God. His actions and words were designed to fulfill prophecies...(Matt. 4:16)...(John 9:5; cf. 8:12)....he revealed the brightness of God’s glory as never before and by this light put everything in truthful perspective.
How Jesus Glorified God Jesus displayed the glory of God in accomplishing what God had
given him to do..... So he prayed to his Father at the end of his life, “I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do” (John 17:4). That work included many miracles during his life and the great final work of redemption when he died and rose
again....when Jesus did his first public miracle by turning water into wine, John says, he “manifested his glory” (John 2:11)....When Jesus healed a paralytic and forgave his sins, “the crowds saw it [and] were afraid, and they glorified God” (Matt. 9:8). When the people saw “the mute speaking, the crippled healthy, the lame walking, and the blind seeing . . . they glorified the God of Israel” (Matt. 15:31). When ten lepers were cleansed, one grateful man “turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice” (Luke 17:15, NASB). When a woman who was bent over for eighteen years was touched and straightened, “she glorified God” (Luke 13:13).
Page 353 - Everything Jesus did was done with a view to making God look great. His work was to display the greatness and the beauty of the full range of God’s perfections. But the greatest miracle of all was Jesus’ death and resurrection so that we might be redeemed from the guilt and power of sin (Mark 10:45) and have forgiveness (Matt. 26:28) and eternal life (John 3:14-15). In this great act of substitution—the guiltless for the guilty—Jesus displayed the glory of the wrath of God and the glory of the love of God.
God’s wrath is a glorious wrath (Luke 21:23; John 3:36). He could have no other kind. And God’s love is a glorious love. When Jesus came to die, as the climax of his earthly work, there was a huge sense that this was the moment of greatest groaning and greatest glory.... The glory of Jesus was manifested both in the suffering and in the triumphal resurrection afterward. (Luke 24:26). The sufferings were the pathway to glory.
But they were not just the path. They were an essential part of his glory. (John 13:31)....God is shown to be gloriously worthy in Jesus’ willingness to die so that God would be just to remove the wrath that rightly falls on sinners. And when the Father is thus glorified in the Son, he then
undertakes to glorify the Son with a mighty display of approval in the resurrection.
Page 354 - Back and forth goes the work of the Father and the Son in glorifying each other in the act of salvation. If we have seen that the Son glorifies the Father, and the Father responds by glorifying the Son, the reverse is also true. “Father,” Jesus says, “the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you” (John 17:1; 12:27-28). When Jesus is glorifying the Father in his death, it is the Father at work glorifying the Son as well; and when the Father glorifies the Son in his resurrection and exaltation, it leads to the Son glorifying the Father as well. This mutual display of the glory of God in the work of the Father and of the Son is the supreme passion of their hearts.
And the good news is that this is the very essence of their love for us. They are displaying their glory not only to make it visible for the enjoyment of soul-hungry creatures like us who were made to find ultimate satisfaction in it, but also in a way that pays for our failures to treasure God’s glory so that we can escape judgment (John 5:29).... He gives us his glory, and he pays
for it with his Son’s life. There is no greater gift than God himself in all his glory. There is no greater price than the death of God’s Son. Therefore, there is no greater love than God’s glorifying himself in the death and resurrection of Jesus.
Page 355 - The central work of the Spirit is to continue the great work of glorifying the Father and the Son. He does that by opening our spiritual eyes to see the truth and beauty of who Jesus is and what he has already done in his life and death and resurrection (John 3:3, 8; Matt. 16:17).
Now, in view of the passion for God’s glory, what does it mean to “let your light shine” for the glory of God? That’s the focus of the next chapter.
Father who is in heaven. — Matt. 5:13-16
Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its saltiness, how will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another. — Mark 9:50
Exerpts:
The demand that we let our light shine before the world has a goal: that people might give glory to our Father who is in heaven. So ultimately, the demand is that we seek to glorify God by
letting our light shine.
Page 351 - The first thing that Jesus demands that we pray is that our Father’s name be hallowed. (Matt. 6:9). In saying this, Jesus signals that his first passion is—and our first passion should be—the manifest holiness of God.....the Greek word behind “hallowed be” is built on the word for “holy” (ag{ io~)...when you turn the word “holy” into a verb like this, it means to “show
yourself holy”—hence the idea of manifest holiness....another way to speak of the manifest holiness of God is to speak of his glory.
Nothing in the universe is more valuable than the glory of God. Seeing the connection between the hallowing of God’s name as the first passion of Jesus and the glory of God as the supreme value in the universe shows that there is no conflict between these two.
What Is the Glory of God? God’s glory is the radiance of his manifold perfections. Those are
poor words for the richest reality of all....God’s glory is the outshining of the infinite value of all that God is....It is visible to the physical eye only as the glorious created world points to its invisible but more glorious Maker. “Consider the lilies of the field. . . . "
Page 352 - It is meant to get our attention and waken us to a glory of which lily-glory is only a likeness. We love to look at glory. We were made to enjoy seeing it. This is why Jesus came into the world. He came to reveal the glory of God more fully than nature ever had (John 1:14)..to die in our place so that we could be saved from God’s wrath...to awaken in us a desire for that glory... Jesus consciously aimed to reveal the glory of God. His actions and words were designed to fulfill prophecies...(Matt. 4:16)...(John 9:5; cf. 8:12)....he revealed the brightness of God’s glory as never before and by this light put everything in truthful perspective.
How Jesus Glorified God Jesus displayed the glory of God in accomplishing what God had
given him to do..... So he prayed to his Father at the end of his life, “I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do” (John 17:4). That work included many miracles during his life and the great final work of redemption when he died and rose
again....when Jesus did his first public miracle by turning water into wine, John says, he “manifested his glory” (John 2:11)....When Jesus healed a paralytic and forgave his sins, “the crowds saw it [and] were afraid, and they glorified God” (Matt. 9:8). When the people saw “the mute speaking, the crippled healthy, the lame walking, and the blind seeing . . . they glorified the God of Israel” (Matt. 15:31). When ten lepers were cleansed, one grateful man “turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice” (Luke 17:15, NASB). When a woman who was bent over for eighteen years was touched and straightened, “she glorified God” (Luke 13:13).
Page 353 - Everything Jesus did was done with a view to making God look great. His work was to display the greatness and the beauty of the full range of God’s perfections. But the greatest miracle of all was Jesus’ death and resurrection so that we might be redeemed from the guilt and power of sin (Mark 10:45) and have forgiveness (Matt. 26:28) and eternal life (John 3:14-15). In this great act of substitution—the guiltless for the guilty—Jesus displayed the glory of the wrath of God and the glory of the love of God.
God’s wrath is a glorious wrath (Luke 21:23; John 3:36). He could have no other kind. And God’s love is a glorious love. When Jesus came to die, as the climax of his earthly work, there was a huge sense that this was the moment of greatest groaning and greatest glory.... The glory of Jesus was manifested both in the suffering and in the triumphal resurrection afterward. (Luke 24:26). The sufferings were the pathway to glory.
But they were not just the path. They were an essential part of his glory. (John 13:31)....God is shown to be gloriously worthy in Jesus’ willingness to die so that God would be just to remove the wrath that rightly falls on sinners. And when the Father is thus glorified in the Son, he then
undertakes to glorify the Son with a mighty display of approval in the resurrection.
Page 354 - Back and forth goes the work of the Father and the Son in glorifying each other in the act of salvation. If we have seen that the Son glorifies the Father, and the Father responds by glorifying the Son, the reverse is also true. “Father,” Jesus says, “the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you” (John 17:1; 12:27-28). When Jesus is glorifying the Father in his death, it is the Father at work glorifying the Son as well; and when the Father glorifies the Son in his resurrection and exaltation, it leads to the Son glorifying the Father as well. This mutual display of the glory of God in the work of the Father and of the Son is the supreme passion of their hearts.
And the good news is that this is the very essence of their love for us. They are displaying their glory not only to make it visible for the enjoyment of soul-hungry creatures like us who were made to find ultimate satisfaction in it, but also in a way that pays for our failures to treasure God’s glory so that we can escape judgment (John 5:29).... He gives us his glory, and he pays
for it with his Son’s life. There is no greater gift than God himself in all his glory. There is no greater price than the death of God’s Son. Therefore, there is no greater love than God’s glorifying himself in the death and resurrection of Jesus.
Page 355 - The central work of the Spirit is to continue the great work of glorifying the Father and the Son. He does that by opening our spiritual eyes to see the truth and beauty of who Jesus is and what he has already done in his life and death and resurrection (John 3:3, 8; Matt. 16:17).
Now, in view of the passion for God’s glory, what does it mean to “let your light shine” for the glory of God? That’s the focus of the next chapter.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Demand #46: Do This In Remembrance Of Me - Baptize Disciples And Eat The Lord's Supper
If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. — Matt. 18:15-17
And [ Jesus] said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, “Take this, and divide it among yourselves. For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.” — Luke 22:15-20
Excerpts from the book:
Page 344 -In addition to providing his church with the Spirit and the word ......Jesus also provided guidelines for how to handle sin in the flock. In one sense, all of his teachings do this. They are the charter for how his followers are to live in the church and in the world. But he gave more specific guidelines for what has come to be called church discipline in Matthew 18:15-17.
Page 344 - The word “church” signals the fact that Jesus is preparing his followers for the ongoing fellowship of his band of followers in his absence. The implication of the teaching is that persistent, unrepented sin—a refusal to take sin seriously and make war against it in our own lives—will mean we are not really followers of Jesus. In other words, even though Jesus knew that the church would always have false believers in it (Matt. 13:30, 48), nevertheless he made provision for a kind of careful, loving, patient discipline that would not tolerate blatant unwillingness to repent. Treating an unrepentant “brother” like a “Gentile and tax collector” did not mean treating him with hostility. Jesus had said plainly that such people are to be loved: ..... (Matt. 5:47). ..................This would include not sharing, for example, in the Lord’s Supper together.
Page 345 - In other words, part of becoming a disciple or a follower of Jesus is being baptized. This is the outward mark of the inward change that has happened to bring one under the lordship of Jesus as a forgiven sinner...................... Therefore, already in John’s baptism we see how it functioned to distinguish true believers from mere descendants of believers. Now Jesus chooses this sign as the mark of his own followers in his absence.......... My simple point here is that this act, practiced by almost all Christian churches today, was not invented by the churches. Jesus put this in place before he left...
Page 346 - ....This is part of becoming his disciple and becoming a part of his church. The other ordinance that Jesus provided for his church is the Lord’s Supper. I am calling baptism and the Lord’s Supper ordinances to signify that Jesus ordained them. That is, he established the pattern of their observance....... Jesus did not give this ordinance a name....... Since everything about Jesus’ last evening and the following trial and crucifixion was planned by God and followed
obediently by Jesus, it would be folly to think his last supper was only coincidentally a Passover meal....... Therefore, it is not surprising that the earliest Christian document that refers to this ordinance not only calls it “the Lord’s Supper” (kuriako;n dei`pnon; 1 Cor. 11:20), but also refers to Jesus as “our Passover lamb” (to; pavsca hJmw`n; 1 Cor. 5:7).
Page 348 - Therefore, it seems wise to understand the words “this is my body” and “this is my blood” to mean: “The cup and bread represent my physical body and blood offered up for you in death as a sacrifice for your sins.”
Page 349 - What we have seen in this chapter is that the church is not an afterthought created by the followers of Jesus because his message of the coming kingdom did not materialize. No, the church did not replace the kingdom. The church is created and sustained by the kingdom. The church was planned by Jesus, and he provided for her in every way. “I will build my church” is the banner that flies over the gatherings of Jesus’ followers today. He is building his people. He is gathering his flock. He is fulfilling his promise to be with her to the end of the age. He is teaching her by his Spirit and through his word. And he is marking her off from the world through the sign of baptism and by making himself remembered and known and enjoyed in the
Lord’s Supper. “Do this” is a demand of the Lord that calls us today to be not just individual followers but a flock, a gathering, a community, and a church.
And [ Jesus] said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, “Take this, and divide it among yourselves. For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.” — Luke 22:15-20
Excerpts from the book:
Page 344 -In addition to providing his church with the Spirit and the word ......Jesus also provided guidelines for how to handle sin in the flock. In one sense, all of his teachings do this. They are the charter for how his followers are to live in the church and in the world. But he gave more specific guidelines for what has come to be called church discipline in Matthew 18:15-17.
Page 344 - The word “church” signals the fact that Jesus is preparing his followers for the ongoing fellowship of his band of followers in his absence. The implication of the teaching is that persistent, unrepented sin—a refusal to take sin seriously and make war against it in our own lives—will mean we are not really followers of Jesus. In other words, even though Jesus knew that the church would always have false believers in it (Matt. 13:30, 48), nevertheless he made provision for a kind of careful, loving, patient discipline that would not tolerate blatant unwillingness to repent. Treating an unrepentant “brother” like a “Gentile and tax collector” did not mean treating him with hostility. Jesus had said plainly that such people are to be loved: ..... (Matt. 5:47). ..................This would include not sharing, for example, in the Lord’s Supper together.
Page 345 - In other words, part of becoming a disciple or a follower of Jesus is being baptized. This is the outward mark of the inward change that has happened to bring one under the lordship of Jesus as a forgiven sinner...................... Therefore, already in John’s baptism we see how it functioned to distinguish true believers from mere descendants of believers. Now Jesus chooses this sign as the mark of his own followers in his absence.......... My simple point here is that this act, practiced by almost all Christian churches today, was not invented by the churches. Jesus put this in place before he left...
Page 346 - ....This is part of becoming his disciple and becoming a part of his church. The other ordinance that Jesus provided for his church is the Lord’s Supper. I am calling baptism and the Lord’s Supper ordinances to signify that Jesus ordained them. That is, he established the pattern of their observance....... Jesus did not give this ordinance a name....... Since everything about Jesus’ last evening and the following trial and crucifixion was planned by God and followed
obediently by Jesus, it would be folly to think his last supper was only coincidentally a Passover meal....... Therefore, it is not surprising that the earliest Christian document that refers to this ordinance not only calls it “the Lord’s Supper” (kuriako;n dei`pnon; 1 Cor. 11:20), but also refers to Jesus as “our Passover lamb” (to; pavsca hJmw`n; 1 Cor. 5:7).
Page 348 - Therefore, it seems wise to understand the words “this is my body” and “this is my blood” to mean: “The cup and bread represent my physical body and blood offered up for you in death as a sacrifice for your sins.”
Page 349 - What we have seen in this chapter is that the church is not an afterthought created by the followers of Jesus because his message of the coming kingdom did not materialize. No, the church did not replace the kingdom. The church is created and sustained by the kingdom. The church was planned by Jesus, and he provided for her in every way. “I will build my church” is the banner that flies over the gatherings of Jesus’ followers today. He is building his people. He is gathering his flock. He is fulfilling his promise to be with her to the end of the age. He is teaching her by his Spirit and through his word. And he is marking her off from the world through the sign of baptism and by making himself remembered and known and enjoyed in the
Lord’s Supper. “Do this” is a demand of the Lord that calls us today to be not just individual followers but a flock, a gathering, a community, and a church.
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Demand #45: Do This In Remembrance Of Me, For I Will Build My Church
[ Jesus] said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. — Matt. 16:15-18
Make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. — Matt. 28:19
And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high. — Luke 24:49
Excerpts from book
Page 336-337: Jesus promised to build his church. By “church” he did not mean a building. That is never the meaning of church (ekj klhsiav ) in Greek. He means he will build a people. He will gather a people who trust him as their Lord (John 13:13; 20:28) and Savior (John 3:17; 10:9) and who love each other (John 13:34-35) and their enemies (Matt. 5:44). Jesus describes himself as “the good shepherd” who gathers his sheep into a flock. “I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I
lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd” (John 10:14-16).
Page 337: Jesus knew and taught that between his first and second coming to earth there would be a lapse of time................(Luke 20:9). This is one of the clearest statements indicating that Jesus expected the time before his second coming to be substantial. He knew that he would be away from his “flock,” and therefore he made provision for them while he is gone.
Page 337-338: This provision includes the sending of the Holy Spirit, the preservation of inspired truth in the writings of his apostles and their close associates, guidelines for how to handle sin in the flock, and the ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Jesus was keenly aware of what it would mean to leave his “little flock” (Luke 12:32) in a hostile world and return to the Father.
Page 338: How were they to live without his physical presence?..... Who would teach them? Who would guide and protect them? How were they to live in his absence? ...............“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you” (John 14:18)..................he would send the Holy Spirit and that this Spirit of God would be his own presence among them........................(John 14:16-17).........
“He dwells with you, and will be in you.” .........Jesus comforts his followers with the truth that he himself will be present in the church by the Spirit whom he sends in his place.
Page 338: Jesus intends for these promises to give strong encouragement to his followers when he leaves. (John 14:27). Therefore, even though the church is destined for trouble in a hostile world of unbelief (John 15:20), they should be encouraged because Jesus promises to send the Holy Spirit who will help them and will, in fact, prove to be a manifestation of the presence of Jesus himself.
Page 339: “But take heart; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). “I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matt. 16:18). Therefore, in view of this crucial role of the Holy Spirit in Jesus’ absence, Jesus demands that his followers wait for the Spirit and
not blunder ahead into ministry without this gift.
Page 339: Not only does Jesus provide for his flock after his departure by sending them the Holy Spirit, but also by preparing for the preservation of inspired truth in the writings of his apostles .....The fact that there were twelve apostles—just as there were twelve tribes of Israel—and that the word apostle carries the implication of special authority to represent him suggests that Jesus intended for the apostles to be the foundation for the true Israel,the church.....This new “Israel” would have its foundation in the twelve apostles. They will represent Jesus’ authority as they lay the foundation for this new people. To secure the future truthfulness of the teaching of the Twelve,Jesus promised to send the Spirit of truth to preserve his teaching and lead them into crucial truth that he had not yet given them.
Page 340: Speaking to the eleven apostles, after Judas had left them on the night before he was crucified, Jesus said:.....(John 16:12-14).....John 14:26)
Page 341: This is Jesus’ way of caring for his flock after he is gone. He provides an authoritative band of representatives and then gives them the assurance that in their teaching office they will have divine assistance to provide the church with the truth it needs for all of life and godliness. He intends that the teaching of these authoritative spokesmen be preserved for later generations.
Page 342: In this way Jesus has provided for his church both the Spirit and the word. His Spirit and his teaching are inseparable. He would be critical of any who try to separate the word and the Spirit. The objective teachings of Jesus, brought to memory by the Spirit and recorded for following generations, are the standard for the church. Any attempt to abandon or distort this objective, historical, once-for-all deposit of teaching will go astray from what Jesus demands and teaches and promises.
Page 342: But it is also true that without the Spirit, no one will receive, or properly grasp, these historical teachings. By nature we are all simply human with no spiritual life. But without spiritual life we do not have eyes to see truly what Jesus taught. The remedy for this blindness and spiritual deadness is to be born again by the Spirit.
Make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. — Matt. 28:19
And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high. — Luke 24:49
Excerpts from book
Page 336-337: Jesus promised to build his church. By “church” he did not mean a building. That is never the meaning of church (ekj klhsiav ) in Greek. He means he will build a people. He will gather a people who trust him as their Lord (John 13:13; 20:28) and Savior (John 3:17; 10:9) and who love each other (John 13:34-35) and their enemies (Matt. 5:44). Jesus describes himself as “the good shepherd” who gathers his sheep into a flock. “I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I
lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd” (John 10:14-16).
Page 337: Jesus knew and taught that between his first and second coming to earth there would be a lapse of time................(Luke 20:9). This is one of the clearest statements indicating that Jesus expected the time before his second coming to be substantial. He knew that he would be away from his “flock,” and therefore he made provision for them while he is gone.
Page 337-338: This provision includes the sending of the Holy Spirit, the preservation of inspired truth in the writings of his apostles and their close associates, guidelines for how to handle sin in the flock, and the ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Jesus was keenly aware of what it would mean to leave his “little flock” (Luke 12:32) in a hostile world and return to the Father.
Page 338: How were they to live without his physical presence?..... Who would teach them? Who would guide and protect them? How were they to live in his absence? ...............“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you” (John 14:18)..................he would send the Holy Spirit and that this Spirit of God would be his own presence among them........................(John 14:16-17).........
“He dwells with you, and will be in you.” .........Jesus comforts his followers with the truth that he himself will be present in the church by the Spirit whom he sends in his place.
Page 338: Jesus intends for these promises to give strong encouragement to his followers when he leaves. (John 14:27). Therefore, even though the church is destined for trouble in a hostile world of unbelief (John 15:20), they should be encouraged because Jesus promises to send the Holy Spirit who will help them and will, in fact, prove to be a manifestation of the presence of Jesus himself.
Page 339: “But take heart; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). “I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matt. 16:18). Therefore, in view of this crucial role of the Holy Spirit in Jesus’ absence, Jesus demands that his followers wait for the Spirit and
not blunder ahead into ministry without this gift.
Page 339: Not only does Jesus provide for his flock after his departure by sending them the Holy Spirit, but also by preparing for the preservation of inspired truth in the writings of his apostles .....The fact that there were twelve apostles—just as there were twelve tribes of Israel—and that the word apostle carries the implication of special authority to represent him suggests that Jesus intended for the apostles to be the foundation for the true Israel,the church.....This new “Israel” would have its foundation in the twelve apostles. They will represent Jesus’ authority as they lay the foundation for this new people. To secure the future truthfulness of the teaching of the Twelve,Jesus promised to send the Spirit of truth to preserve his teaching and lead them into crucial truth that he had not yet given them.
Page 340: Speaking to the eleven apostles, after Judas had left them on the night before he was crucified, Jesus said:.....(John 16:12-14).....John 14:26)
Page 341: This is Jesus’ way of caring for his flock after he is gone. He provides an authoritative band of representatives and then gives them the assurance that in their teaching office they will have divine assistance to provide the church with the truth it needs for all of life and godliness. He intends that the teaching of these authoritative spokesmen be preserved for later generations.
Page 342: In this way Jesus has provided for his church both the Spirit and the word. His Spirit and his teaching are inseparable. He would be critical of any who try to separate the word and the Spirit. The objective teachings of Jesus, brought to memory by the Spirit and recorded for following generations, are the standard for the church. Any attempt to abandon or distort this objective, historical, once-for-all deposit of teaching will go astray from what Jesus demands and teaches and promises.
Page 342: But it is also true that without the Spirit, no one will receive, or properly grasp, these historical teachings. By nature we are all simply human with no spiritual life. But without spiritual life we do not have eyes to see truly what Jesus taught. The remedy for this blindness and spiritual deadness is to be born again by the Spirit.
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